Adrift
by Durhelediel
Summary: ObiWan turns up missing while on a mission with his master, QuiGon. What mysterious force is it that holds ObiWan captive? Can QuiGon unravel the mystery and find ObiWan in time to save his padawan? FINISHED!
1. Default Chapter

Title: Adrift

Author: Durhelediel

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: George Lucas owns and profits from the Star Wars universe. I just play in it's sandbox from time to time...

Dedication: To my Jedi Master, Layren, who has done so much for me lately. I have been going through a rough time with medical things and she has been wonderful on either distracting me or supporting me. Thanks Master Layren. Your aide has not gone unnoticed.

Chapter One

Seventeen year old Obi-Wan Kenobi wished that he could have been allowed to watch the sunset of Penne't II. The sky was a riot of colors ranging from palest pink to deepest purple, entangling and mixing together in a glorious riot of color.

"Mind on the moment, padawan," came a soft murmur to his left.

Obi-Wan grinned, blushing a little at his Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn. Qui-Gon seemed stern, but Obi-Wan could see that a corner of his lip was twitching upward.

Obediently, Obi-Wan turned his back on the beautiful sunset that was reflected in the body of water that the Pennetians called the Un'ocean, or "the one ocean". He focused on the being who was speaking. He was a half-human, half-fish mix and his hairâ€"like most Peenetian'sâ€"was light green. Webs stretched between his fingers as he flexed his hands when he spoke.

"...therefore the Penne nation wanted to request admittance to the Republic," the Penne't merman finished. He was lounging on the sand, the waves of the ocean crashing over him from time to time.

Qui-Gon frowned, lines appearing on his face that had not been there when Obi-Wan first really met him.

"If such is the case," Obi-Wan heard Qui-Gon saying, "then I wonder why you requested Jedi assistanceâ€"and my padawan and myself in particular. To join the Republic you would need a senator to travel to Coruscant and do the necessary requirements."

The merman, Chieftain Zodek, scowled. "None of my people can survive out of the water that long, Master Jinn. How are we to represent ourselves if we die on the way to Coruscant?"

Obi-Wan felt a flicker of irritation from his master before he calmly stated, his arms in the opposite sleeves of his robes, "That is regrettable, Chieftain Zodek, but as Jedi we cannot represent you. We can aide you, perhaps find someone that you would allow to represent you as a proxy, but we cannot."

Zodek was obviously not pleased at the Jedi's refusal. His long, scaled tail thrashed in the sand for a few moments, though Qui-Gon calmly waited the merman out. Finally, Zodek sighed. "What do you suggest?"

"Let us find a proxy for you on the mainland," Qui-Gon patiently repeated. "Not everyone there think of your people as 'strange' or 'unnatural'. I'm sure that if you give us a week we can set something up for you."

Zodek idly scratched near his belt as he thought. The water people of Penne't II were very strong-willed and proud. For centuries they had remained aloof from the travelers that had arrived on the mainland of their world, preferring to remain in their large, underwater cities. It had come as a shock to receive a message from them requesting Jedi to visitâ€"and even more of a surprise when they specified who they wanted to come.

Obi-Wan found himself glancing at the sunset again as the merman thought and scratched. His mind started to wander again...

"Ow!" He slapped a hand to his neck where something sharp had just hit him. Before he could do anything, he was yanked off of his feet and dragged by his neck into Zodek's arms. Blood ran down his neck and his back began to feel numb from some kind of salve that was spread on the line in his neck. "Master..." He gasped as Zodek's arms tightened around him.

Qui-Gon had his lightsaber out. "Zodek! What are you doing? Release my apprentice!" He barked out.

"No, Master Jinn," Zodek said, his breath passing along Obi-Wan's neck and stirring his hair slightly. Obi-Wan almost gagged at the smell of raw fish that came from the merman's mouth. "He will stay with us until you have achieved your task. You have no longer than a week."

Obi-Wan then felt himself being lifted and he caught sight of the beach and water tilting dangerously to the side. His master was running after them, but Obi-Wan knew that he'd never make it to him in time. Within moments, Obi-Wan was plunged into the cool water, a strong arm around his middle. He hadn't had time to take in a breathâ€"it had all happened so fast. His vision grayed. His brain and lungs were soon starving for air and were not receiving the precious oxygen. When he could stand it no more, he passed into unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Qui-Gon wasted no time trying to swim after the merman and his captured apprentice. Fins were ten times faster than legs and not even the Force could make Qui-Gon fast enough to save his padawan. As he raced up the beach toward the Mainland City, his thoughts raced.

Zodek would not harm Obi-Wan if he hoped to gain any cooperation from Qui-Gon, so no matter how much his heart constricted in fear for his padawan he knew that, logically, Obi-Wan was safe.

But that still left the question of Zodek's actions. If all the Pennetians wanted was to be represented in the Republic Senate then this risky move would destroy all of that. Zodek was no fool. His capture of Obi-Wan just did not fit with what he claimed his demands were. The Force prodded Qui-Gon into thinking that perhaps there was something more going on here that was beneath the surface, either literally or figuratively...or both.

"Master Jedi?"

Qui-Gon ran right past the Tourist Representative, sand flying up from his boots. "Follow me," he barked over his shoulder. The woman noted the absence of his student and came silently, running quickly for a woman whose width was twice her height.

Qui-Gon did not slow down until he was in the Tourist Contact building. Kiosks filled with holonet capable devices lined the walls while a large booth in the middle held a bored-looking woman with "Happy Helper" pinned on her tunic. Pausing only long enough to find a free kiosk, Qui-Gon slid into it and closed the small door behind him for privacy. It was a tight fit with his build, but he managed to get mostly comfortable as he keyed in the code for the Jedi Council.

Mace Windu's face popped on the screen. "Qui-Gon!" His friend greeted, surprised. "I just happened to be at the receptionist area..."

"Obi-Wan's been taken," Qui-Gon broke in impatiently.

"What?"

"Obi-Wan has been taken by Chieftain Zodek of the Pennetians," Qui-Gon said very slowly through clenched teeth.

"I'm assuming he said why?" Mace said as he bent down, writing something down.

Qui-Gon nodded curtly. "His reason was for me to find someone to represent them to the Republic and he gave me a week."

Mace glanced back up at him, his eyes searching his friend's face. "But you aren't convinced of...what, exactly?"

Qui-Gon sighed and brushed his long hair from his face. "His actions just don't seem to fit with what he wants. This is counterproductive to what he claims the Pennetians want for themselves. Why take Obi-Wan at all? I had already told him that I would search for someone on the mainland to represent them. Something about this just doesn't fit right, Mace. There's something more to it; there has to be." He felt frustrated that he didn't know what Zodek was really after. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure that Zodek wanted Obi-Wan for another reason.

"What are their laws concerning hostages?"

Qui-Gon glanced sharply at his friend. "What are you getting at?"

Mace returned his gaze evenly, though his voice was soft with his reply. "We must be facing reality, Qui-Gon. What are their laws concerning hostages? What kind of danger is Obi-Wan in?"

Qui-Gon forced himself to think past the paralyzing fear for Obi-Wan that he felt. He scanned his memory for what he had read about what little is known about the Pennetians in preparation for this mission. "Pennetians are fair, but aggressive," he said slowly as he thought out loud. "They are a proud people that take their beliefs very seriously; some even say that they are fanatics. None know exactly what those beliefs are. And that's about what anyone knows about them. I have no idea how they would treat Obi-Wan."

Mace was quiet a moment as he thought. Finally, he said, "I'll have to run this by the Council. I can already tell you that this has changed everything about your mission. You will be considered on a rescue mission now, and not a contact mission. Do what you need to in order to get Obi-Wan back safely. I will contact you when I can."

Qui-Gon leaned back in the chair as the screen went blank. By Mace's reaction alone Qui-Gon could tell how concerned Mace was about this turn of events. Mace never acted without the full Council's discussing the matter through first.

A knock sounded behind him. The tall Jedi sighed heavily. So now this was a rescue mission, was it? Well, in that case, he wouldn't have to waste a lot of time on the dignitaries of Mainland City and he wouldn't have to go to the dinner that he and Obi-Wan were supposed to attend that night.

Obi-Wan was always hungry and was a trifle testy when he hadn't been allowed to eat in a while. Qui-Gon fervently hoped that his padawan would be fed something while in captivity or things might get unpleasant.

* * *

Obi-Wan woke feeling like he was in the middle of a windstorm. His hair, braid, tunic and pants were blowing behind him and the only reason he did not flip over was because he was chained down to some sort of soft though firm floor.

He groaned and opened his eyes, his head pounding from the lack of oxygen when he had passed out. Immediately, he saw that he was staring up at water. All around him was water. Pressing in on him, a blue so dark that it was almost black, the water was above him, below him, on his sides, though none touched him. As he woke more, he discovered that he was in some sort of bubble-type container. The air rushing in was coming out of a high hole that must be a primitive vent.

Evidently his captors didn't want him to die just yet, which heartened him somewhat.

"Jedi child, what is your name?"

Obi-Wan twisted his neck around to see a beautiful merwoman lazily floating in the water on the other side of the bubble to his right. "I am Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi," he said soberly and respectfully. Qui-Gon had taught him to be respectful of all beings in any situation and he used that now to keep panic away in his unfamiliar surroundings. "Whom am I speaking to?"

The merwoman's long green hair swirled around her head while layers of shell necklaces floated around her neck. She opened her mouth and moved it, though he didn't immediately hear her words. After a short delay, he heard, "I am Triandeena, the speaker of the Mother Planet."

Obi-Wan blinked, confused. Speaker of the...what? Did he hear correctly?

"I'm...sorry," he said, trying to gain some information into what he was doing here and who exactly this important-looking merwoman was. "I don't understand."

Again the merwoman's lips moved without him hearing her words at once. After a pause, "The Mother Planet is our provider. She sustains us and keeps us safe from those above who wish us harm. We do Her bidding without question or hesitation. Every generation She chooses someone to speak to among our people. I am the one in this generation to whom She speaks."

Ah, so this was someone very important after all, he reasoned, though he didn't like the sound of the merwoman's words. He tried to pull his hands out of the strange, dark green chains binding him to the floor he was laying on, but could get no leverage to do so.

"Do not resist, Obi-Wan Kenobi," Triandeena told him wisely, her golden eyes gleaming in the soft light of his bubble. "She does not wish you to waste your energy."

Obi-Wan stopped, but mostly out of surprise. Captors that were concerned with his well-being? This was becoming more and more strange by the minute.

"That's better. You are here by Her request."

"She didn't exactly ask," Obi-Wan pointed out dryly. "I would have come with less confusion if she had just asked nicely, and I would have brought my master with me."

Triandeena shook her head slowly, bobbing up and down in the currents of the water. "You do not understand, Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Then why don't you enlighten me?" He shot back, growing tired of this verbal game. "Why am I here? What do you want?"

"It's not what we..."

"Fine," he snapped. "What does this 'mother planet' want?"

Triandeena regarded him a moment, then replied, "Our Mother is dying. There is too much evil, too much greed and selfishness with the Mainlanders, and so Her balance is off, causing Her to die. You are here to help."

Obi-Wan felt a little sorry for their mother planet for a moment, then his brain caught up with him. "Wait," he asked suspiciously, "how am I supposed to help?"

Golden eyes stared at him without mercy. "She felt you. You are filled with so much light, so much power of good, that by your death you will save Her."

"How can a death possibly restore balance if it's already out-of-balance with greed and corruption?" Obi-Wan shot at the merwoman, his heart chilling in his body. "That doesn't make any sense!"

Now the merwoman placed her hands on the bubble, causing little indentions. Her expression was earnest. "It is not a death to be feared, Obi-Wan Kenobi, but one to be considered an honor. You will be absorbed into the Mother Planet, therefore transferring your light to Her to stabilize Her again." Triandeena's head swiveled around to look at something in the dark water behind her that Obi-Wan could not see. When she turned back to him, she had a serene smile on her face. "I must go prepare a few things for you to eat to further cleanse your body." She made as if to swim away, but paused. "And do not try to contact your master using your mind. You are in Her bosom now and She will not allow you to have anymore contact with those that are unworthy." Then with a flick of her powerful tail, Triandeena was gone, seemingly swallowed up by the water.

Obi-Wan beat his head against the floor in frustration. Almost immediately, he felt the floor soften itself considerably so that he couldn't cause injury to himself. He stilled and the floor hardened again. His blue eyes widened.

Just what exactly did Triandeena mean when she said that he was 'in the mother planet's bosom'?

_Thou art mine now, Jedi child._

Obi-Wan turned his head around so fast that he almost pulled a muscle, but no one was around his bubble. Besides, the voice had been...inside his head.

_I will take care of thee. We two shall soon become one, to protect my children from harm. Thou wilt be a father to them, rejoiced throughout ages for thy bravery and sacrifice._

"I don't want to be a sacrifice!" Obi-Wan yelled to the voice, refusing to speak to it by thought like he could _feel_ that it wanted him to. "Pick someone else! Pick someone older or more experienced! Why don't you choose one of your 'children'?"

_Age is of no use to me. _Came the feminine voice promptly, sounding slightly scolding. _I desire someone with the power to put the wrong to right. Thou art talented and powerful in the light. My children have no connection to the light like thou dost. Thou shouldst keep the balance longer than their last father._

_Last father?_ Obi-Wan wondered before he could stop himself.

_The last Jedi to be powerful enough to balance. Evil was not yet so rampant then. More is needed now. _Thou_ art needed now._

"No! I don't want to do this!" Obi-Wan cried out. He did not want to die like that other Jedi, whomever he was. He did not want to be the one to balance a planet's internal equilibrium.

The voice hardened now and was not as soft and motherly. _Thou hast no choice. Thou art mine now. Thou cannot escape._


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"Tell me everything you know about the Pennetians," Qui-Gon said wearily for what felt like the hundredth time. He rubbed his aching temples. It had been a full day since Obi-Wan's disappearance by Zodek and neither Obi-Wan, nor any of the merpeople, had been seen since. He had been asking every known 'expert' on Penne't II for any kind of informational background on the Pennetians. So far all he had learned was what he already knew: they were proud, they kept to themselves, and they were fanatics.

Fanatics of what, no one seemed to be sure.

Now Qui-Gon sat in front of a very old woman who claimed to be one of the direct descendants of the original group of tourists that had crash landed here hundreds of years ago, discovering the beautiful world with its one land mass and extremely large ocean. He had not slept since Obi-Wan had been taken from him on the shore of the Un'ocean, and only adrenaline kept him going at full steam now.

The woman, gray hair neatly piled on top of her head, smiled and nodded at him, as if to impart a large secret to him. With the way the Pennetians kept knowledge of themselves away from the main populace, Qui-Gon was sure that anything beyond what he already knew would be a type of secret.

"My granddaddy, he was a fisherman," the old woman, who called herself Iriena, began in a soft voice that shook with age. Qui-Gon had no idea how old she was, but she seemed at least in her eighties, perhaps more. For her ease, they were sitting on the porch of her retirement home near the ocean in large comfortable chairs made of a substance that Qui-Gon had never seen before. It was dark green and resembled seaweed, though it was very strong and sturdy.

"He didn't ever fish here," Iriena was saying. Qui-Gon forced his tired mind back to the woman in front of him and listened more attentively as she went on. "First night we was here for vacation, he fell off our skip into Un'ocean. Anyone in the water beyond the Safe Point was a goner—we all knew that. We mourned the loss and went on." She gave a small chuckle and gestured to his glass of pale yellow liquid. "More limonaid, Mister Jedi?"

Qui-Gon shook his head politely; he had hardly touched what she had given him of the tart liquid. He took a sip when it seemed as if her need to continue rested on if he drank. He knew that the liquid was safe; he had seen her drinking out of the same pitcher.

"Well, we was at home on Coruscant when granddaddy just up and walked through the door one day, like he never had left. Caused grandmomma to about have a stroke right then and there, it did." Iriena chuckled again as she thought of it, her face wrinkling with many laugh lines as she did so. "He'd been gone over a year, you see."

"And where had he been?" Qui-Gon prompted her gently when she had been silent for a while, lost in memories.

Iriena leaned forward a little bit and Qui-Gon found himself leaning in closer to her as well. His heart began to leap—perhaps this woman would finally help him to shed light on his missing padawan's whereabouts and condition.

"With them," Iriena whispered. She pointed out at the ocean. "The merfolk. They caught him, you see, when he fell from the boat. Was gonna kill him, too, they were, but he made motions with his hands so that they could see he meant no harm. Curious little things, they are. They saved him because they were curious. Took him to a deep place where he said you couldn see nothin. They put him in this bubble thing they had already set up where he found someone else. They was left to themselves a while so they talked, though granddaddy said the other man never had enough strength to do much talkin."

Qui-Gon was now very interested, even though this was a tale obviously embellished throughout the years with the retellings. "And who was this other person? Another Mainlander?"

Iriena shook her head, her bun swaying dangerously as she did so. "Nope, not a Mainlander. Young fellow though. I was young with granddaddy died and nobody'd tell me the story after it, but I think I remember him sayin it was a Jedi by his clothes."

Qui-Gon's eyes widened. A...Jedi?

Iriena was finishing her story. "Granddaddy always shook his head when he talked of the poor Jedi. Said he was insane. Kept talkin about 'her' and 'she', but granddaddy never could figure out what he meant. Babbled about 'bringin...'" She stopped, touching a long, wrinkled finger to her lips. "What was it?" Her eyes cleared with the thought. "That's it. Balance. Babbled about brinin balance to 'her', whatever it meant.

"Well, soon the merfolk took him away to another city where he could walk around freely and talk to other 'lost ones' who were down there. Seems them merfolk don't just kill anyone whose in their waters, but they don't let them leave, either." Iriena huffed a little, patting absently at a pillow that helped her to prop up.

Qui-Gon immediately jumped up, sensing her discomfort. "Here, let me help you," he said kindly as he readjusted the pillow to make her more comfortable. When she was ready and he had sat down—and drank half the glass of the limoaid—Iriena finished.

"Them merfolk, they don't just let you leave. Once you're in the water, well, you're in it," she said, frowning a little. "Granddaddy never did talk of how he got out of there, but I do remember seein a big scar on his side. Think they tried to stop him, though he never told us grandkids about it." She stopped, peering at him. "Did I help, Mister Jedi?"

Qui-Gon smiled at her and gently patted her knarled hand. "I think so, dear lady."

Iriena cackled and a faint red stole over her cheeks. "Oh, mercy! 'Dear lady'!"

A young woman who seemed to be a younger version of Iriena came out of the house. She glanced at the two of them and saw Qui-Gon stand up. "Are you done with your visitor, Grandmomma?"

Iriena nodded, her eyelids already dropping with sleep. She was exhausted from her long-winded story. Qui-Gon quietly slipped into the house with her granddaughter and was on the front porch again shortly.

"You've caught grandmomma on a good day," the granddaughter, Welimina, said softly as they walked down the steps.

Qui-Gon was perplexed at her wording. "A...'good day'?"

Welimina glanced at him. "Didn't anyone tell you, Master Jedi? Grandmomma has a wasting disease that preys on her memory. The best doctors and healers cannot help her and so she has been taken here to live out the remainder of her days. Most days, she doesn't know who I am, or even who she is."

"What?" Qui-Gon whispered, his hazel eyes round with shock. "But, you said...today was a good day...for her memory, correct?"

Welimina shrugged. "I suppose. Maybe she remembered all that she told you, but most of the time she just sits there and makes up stories to whomever passes by." The young girl, just a few years older than Obi-Wan, patted his arm sympathetically as he digested this shocking turn of events.

"So...none of what she said was true?" Qui-Gon tried to reason out.

Welimina shrugged her petite shoulders, her blonde hair gleaming in the hot sun. "Maybe, maybe not. There were family legends about great-granddad, though none of us knew what was truth or what was fiction."

Qui-Gon almost did not want to ask his next question. "And did you hear of his underwater exploits?"

After a pause, Welimina shook her head. At his crestfallen look, she quickly added, "But I was very young when he died. After he left us, no one talked of him. It is the way of my family—to grant those who went on peace by refraining from speaking of them. I do not know what to tell you, Master Jinn." She looked stricken, wringing her hands in obvious agitation.

Qui-Gon smoothed his face of his emotions and let a smile grace his features—a smile he did not feel. "It'll be all right," he told himself as much as her. "The Force will show us what is truth in time. We must be patient."

Welimina lifted a stricken face to his. "But will it be quick enough for your padawan's safe return?"

As Qui-Gon turned away, his heart—and the Force—had no answer.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Obi-Wan felt something gently nudging him awake. It wasn't exactly a voice, the voice, but it was Her. He knew it was Her.

After She had told him that he could not escape, She had forced him—he still had to try to figure out how—into a deep sleep. The Mother Planet was very used to having Her way, that much he knew without question.

Slowly, prolonging it to show to Her that he would not be forced into things, Obi-Wan gradually opened his eyes. He expected to see Triandeena, but he was caught off-guard to see Pennetians all around his bubble, staring in at him. Their webbed hands pressed in on the bubble so that they were all just a few inches from him.

"Ack!" He cried, startled at seeing them so close. "What do you want?"

Zodek swam toward him, the crowd of Pennetians parting to let him through. He stopped close to Obi-Wan and opened his mouth. Again, there was a delay before the sound came to Obi-Wan's ears. "Jedi, you have been accepted by the Mother Planet. Now you must be cleansed, inside and out."

There was a sound like sucking water and Obi-Wan was momentarily distracted from the large audience he seemed to have to turn his head to the left where the vent was. The vent had enlarged to an incredible size and a boy hurried in, carrying a bowl of some kind of food. Obi-Wan hadn't eaten in a day now and his stomach woke up loudly at the smell of something, anything, to eat, though he was surprised to see another human this deep in the water.

The boy smiled at him and sat down, cross-legged, beside his head. He was eight at the most, and dressed in an odd mix of tunics and some kind of mesh. His green eyes sparkled as he held a spoon out toward Obi-Wan's mouth. "Eat," he said eagerly.

Obi-Wan's stomach might not care about what it was, but Obi-Wan noticed that it was a thick, green concoction that smelled horrible up-close. "What is it?" He asked, trying to ignore the fact that dozens of merpeople were silently watching his movements and listening to his words.

"Gilliaweed stew. For your cleansing," the boy answered, smiling. The spoon was still held out toward his mouth. "Eat."

He felt no deception in the boy so he was certain that the boy thought it was gilliaweed stew, though Obi-Wan was not entirely convinced. What if they were trying to poison him, no matter what She said about needing him to be 'absorbed' into Herself?

_'Tis well to eat, Obi-Wan. Have no fear, child._

Obi-Wan stiffened. So She was still closely monitoring his thoughts and what he did, was She?

"I won't eat with an audience," Obi-Wan said firmly, staring at the hundreds of Pennetians crowding around his bubble. "I am not some kind of entertainment!"

_And thou wilt eat if they remove themselves?_

Obi-Wan sighed. No matter how bad it tasted, he supposed he would. His stomach would never forgive him if he passed up food. "Yes."

It happened all at once. Triandeena jerked, then barked something in the musical language of the Pennetians that he could not understand. The merpeople darted away, swallowed up by the darkness, though Triandeena and Zodek stayed.

_Better, my young one?_

Obi-Wan sighed. "Thank you," he said, more out of politeness than wanting to thank his reason for being captured and held here until his death.

_Thou mayest speak to me in thy mind, Obi-Wan. 'Twould be less tiring for thee._

"No," Obi-Wan said stubbornly. "You don't belong in my head. I don't belong here! I won't do anything that makes it easier on you."

The voice said nothing, but he could _feel _a disappointment fill him.

"Eat."

Obi-Wan glanced up, startled. He had momentarily forgotten about the boy sitting right next to him. Obediently, he opened his mouth and the spoon shoved its way into his throat. The stew wasn't as bad as he was expecting, but it wasn't good, either. It was a cross between slimy plant and the spiced mynock that his master had forced him to try a few years ago. Not a pleasant taste, but his stomach needed something and variety was few in captivity.

As he choked down one bite after another, Obi-Wan thought back to his battle of wills with the Mother Planet. He was sure that he was not endearing himself to Her, but he hoped if he made Her upset enough, She'd leave him be to either escape or be killed outright. Either way, he would have more of a fighting chance than here, chained to the floor of a bubble, constantly being watched either by Her or a Pennetian.

Could he win this battle of wills with a planet that was older than he by millennia? Or was he simply fated by the Force to die this way, like the other Jedi She had mentioned, never to see the sun or his master again?

Resolutely, he decided to try to call out to his master through the Force. If the Force was a part of everything, then it would be a part of the Mother Planet as well. He wasn't sure if that would help him, or hinder him, but he had to try.

_Master?_

He closed his eyes, turning his face away from what little was left of the bowl. Quietly, the boy stood and left him alone, though Triandeena and Zodek still watched him. He focused deeply into the Force, feeling it moving around him like the water currents outside his bubble of air. He gathered it to him and then pushed it upward, toward Qui-Gon's presence, desperate to reach him, to have him know where he was, to come rescue him from this bleak situation, but he ran out of time.

_What art thou doing?!_

He lost his concentration with the thundering, angry voice in his head. Obi-Wan resolutely tried again to reach Qui-Gon, almost, almost reaching his master, before the Mother Planet cut him off, taking the Force away from him somehow. He felt as if his whole world was plunged into darkness as he couldn't even feel a shadow of the life-giving energy.

_I told thee not to do this thing!_ She screamed in his head. _Thou hast disobeyed me! Thou shalt be punished! Thou wilt learn that I am to be obeyed! I am all that thou hast now, no one else! Thou art mine, Obi-Wan! Mine!_

Obi-Wan cried out as a sharp pain sliced across his brain, his eyes forced open by the shock of it. Both merpeople were staring at him impassively across the bubble, but he no longer cared that they were there. He felt as if he were fighting himself, as if his body had rebelled against him as it punished him with pain. His back arched and he cried out again as his spine felt like it was a burning fire of pain. His hands jerked in the chains, pulling at them, but the floor had hardened again and the chains remained unbroken. The white-hot pain flared so that he couldn't even see, couldn't even think, couldn't even touch the Force for help in easing the pain away. He felt as if his brain were swelling inside his head and the pressure it caused was too much for him to bare.

_Mine!_

The pressure in his head and the pain along his spine spiked at the scream and Obi-Wan sank into unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Qui-Gon jerked his head up in the darkness of his—and Obi-Wan's—room. He had been sound asleep, finally dozing off as he read over historical pieces about the Penne't people.

Had he heard something?

His eyes scanned the dark cloak of his borrowed room as his ears strained for a sound—any sound.

He heard nothing, but the drip of water in the refresher from his earlier shower some hours ago.

So what had startled him out of a deep sleep?

He drew the Force to him, exploring his surroundings with eyes that were not physical. Even in the Force, he felt no one near him. He quested out farther—and felt the echoes of a disturbance. The echoes had no specific source, yet he was sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was Obi-Wan. He couldn't feel his padawan, but he knew Obi-Wan wasn't dead—he'd feel Obi-Wan's death. It was more as if Obi-Wan had tried to contact him—and was blocked. But who could block his strong and talented padawan? Another Force user? Yet he had felt no one else, no other Jedi light or dark, on planet.

He tried to contact Obi-Wan through their bond, but it was if whatever was blocking his padawan from getting to him through the Force was also hindering Qui-Gon from reassuring Obi-Wan. All he could sense was something humongous and sentient and he thought he heard a single word that was whispered to him:

_Mine._

Then he was blinking, breathing heavily as if he'd run too far, and sweating in the dark of the room. It had been years since someone, or some_thing_, else had forced him to break contact with another Force user when he did not wish to.

Something wanted Obi-Wan, but for what?

It was clear that whatever wanted Obi-Wan did not want his master to interfere in any way, and it was powerful enough to keep Qui-Gon from his padawan.

For the first time in the two days since Obi-Wan had been taken by Zodek, Qui-Gon began to wonder if he'd ever get him back.

* * *

_Wake._

_No. _

_Do you enjoy pain, Obi-Wan?_

_No. _The word this time was said in exhaustion.

_Then waken._

_I will do nothing that you want,_ Obi-Wan determined in his mind. He would have spoken out loud to prove his point, but he was still swimming of the unconsciousness of his mind and could not find his way to consciousness again.

The Mother Planet did not seem deterred. _Thou wilt in time. The other did as well. Though,_ now She sounded amused, _thou art more stubborn than he. After two days with me he was willing to do anything I wished._

_I am not he._

There was a chuckle in his mind. _Thou art correct in that, Obi-Wan. Thou art stronger. I will enjoy breaking thee. Thou wilt see, in the end, that there is no pain with me and thou won't fear it so._

Obi-Wan was so very tired, but he felt that he must make it perfectly clear that he had no intentions of ever giving in. _Kill me now to save yourself the time of breaking me. I will not break._

There was a pause of which he could feel Her contemplating his words.

Finally, She responded, _No. I do not need thee to break to be absorbed into my power to balance. Know this, Obi-Wan: breaking or not, willing or not, thou wilt be with me for eternity._

As he fought for consciousness, he thought he heard the echo of a man screaming—a man that was not he. It almost sounded like a warning, but he could not hear the words. Was it the other Jedi?

A pressure was building inside his mind again, and he knew if it happened again he might very well not be able to resist what the Mother Planet wanted. He gathered the Force to him—he could touch its power again! He built a shield around his mind, forcing Her out of it. She shrieked, but could not break down his defenses this time.

Satisfied, he finally was able to truly rest.

* * *

"Our Mother says that the Jedi child is proving very difficult," Triandeena quietly told Chieftain Zodek in their musical language as they watched Obi-Wan's tense body relax onto the floor of the tramshen.

Zodek barely glanced at the Speaker. "And what does She want now? Is he still to be the one?"

Triandeena let a smile touch her lips. "He is still to be the one. He is very powerful. He will restore balance. She knows now that She will have to force him, which She was hoping not to. There is not time to wait for him to be broken."

"When will She start?"

Triandeena narrowed her eyes at the limp form in the tramshen. "Next tide cycle. He has to be fully cleansed."

"But that is a full two weeks away!" Zodek protested, facing the Speaker fully. "The Master is searching and is resourceful. Will She have enough time?"

Triandeena shook her head. "You do not understand. She will begin the process soon, but it will be prolonged because of his power. It will take until the next tide cycle to be fully completed." Her golden eyes gleamed in the dark of the water. "Once the process begins tomorrow, not even his 'Master' can save him."


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

When he woke again, he felt weak instead of rested, which confused him. The shield that he had used to keep Her out of his mind was still intact, but was much weakened.

_Thou hast forgotten something very important, Obi-Wan._

Obi-Wan sighed. She was back in his mind—even with the protective shield in place—so he removed it to reserve his strength.

"What?" he tried to say loudly, but only had enough strength to whisper it in his bubble of air.

She definitely sounded amused now. _I am with thy 'Force'. When thou usest it, I am there. Thou cannot escape me._

Obi-Wan wanted to kick himself very hard and in a tender place. Of course. He didn't know which he hated more: Her for being able to intrude upon him using the very essence that he relied on, or himself for not thinking about it before now.

_'Tis a hard lesson, my Obi-Wan. Now that thou hast learned it, perhaps thou wilt stop resisting me?_

Obi-Wan used a Rodian curse that he had heard Qui-Gon's friend, Lana Josel, use. He scowled up at the top of the bubble and the ever-present, dark blue water. His arms ached dully from being held captive in one position for three days—or was it four? He was starting to lose count in this place without sunlight to indicate day. He marked time by the arrival of the boy with his gilliaweed stew. But even then he wasn't sure if the boy came at regular times since he himself spent most of his time sleeping or simply unconscious.

_Give thyself to me._

"No!" Obi-Wan forced himself to yell, the sound echoing in the bubble. He sagged a little upon the softened floor in exhaustion. "No," he repeated quietly, firmly, for confirmation for himself.

_Thou hast no choice._

The sucking noise came to his ears, and Obi-Wan turned his head to see the boy, smiling like always, enter with a bowl. The boy sat down near his head and held out the spoon. Sighing, Obi-Wan opened his mouth and let the boy feed him again, curling his hands into fists in the chains in frustration.

The stew wasn't so bad the third time around—he must be getting used to it. When he was finished, he lay his head on the floor, suddenly feeling as if his head were too heavy for his neck. The boy left quietly.

It was then he noticed the silent crowd of Pennetians surrounding the bubble again. Their golden eyes gleamed at him in their solemn faces.

"What's going on?" he wondered softly.

_'Tis time to begin, Obi-Wan._

He didn't have time to ask what was to begin, because Triandeena touched the bubble and a long, hollow note rang through the air. Obi-Wan winced as the note vibrated to him, inside of him. The note seemed to change pitch inside of his body, creating another note, yet the notes did not create dissonance.

The two notes swelled inside of him and he cried out, twisting in his chains, trying to escape it and receiving no respite. It seemed as if the very bubble were vibrating with the two notes that he heard inside of his head.

"Stop it!" He heard himself shouting as he writhed in the bubble, the silent merpeople watching him impassively. "Please!"

_'Tis only the beginning, Father._

"I am not...their...father!" Yet, he wasn't sure to whom he was speaking anymore. The notes of sound filled his entire being, crowding out who he was, what he was doing here, and where 'here' was. All he knew was the sounds, and all he wanted was for them to stop before he went insane.

_Embrace me, Father._

His head jerked a negative as tears leaked out of his eyes, but he was only dimly aware of his body's continued resistance as his mind knew only the pain of the two notes swirling inside of him, giving him no relief and multiplying in pitch instead of diminishing.

Finally, he forced a thought out of the noise that only he could hear. _No. I will resist until I die._

_Soon enough, my Obi-Wan, _She promised him. _Now it begins._

Obi-Wan screamed, jerking against the chains that held his wrists and ankles. It felt as if something were trying to tear out his very soul. His back arched high into the air, his eyes squeezed shut...and he fought for his very being. In his mind it was a battlefield for his continued existence. He clung to his identity—his essence—yet felt like he was losing ground.

It was a tug-of-war for his life...

And he was so very tired...

With a mighty yank, She overpowered his efforts.

With a mental scream of anguish, Obi-Wan swirled down, not into unconsciousness, but into Her waiting embrace.

* * *

Obi-Wan's body relaxed on the floor of the bubble. The Pennetians broke out into smiles as they turned toward Triandeena.

The Speaker was beaming. In a reverent tone as she gazed down upon Obi-Wan, she said, "We have a new Father."


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Wind from the thrusters of the ship that was landing blew Qui-Gon's robes around him in a swirl. Qui-Gon waited for the ramp to settle to the ground and then gave a tired greeting to his childhood best friend, Kyran Josel. Kyran's sandy-blonde hair was lightening the older he became, yet his green eyes were as still sharp and intelligent as ever. He quickly took in his friend's haggard appearance and rumpled tunic as he disembarked from his ship.

"Kyran," Qui-Gon greeted, his tone one of exhaustion. The friends quickly embraced, then began the long walk out of the tourist shops and cantinas of Penne't II. "How was your journey?"

Kyran sighed and ran a hand through his thinning hair. "Long," he admitted as he glanced around at the variety of beings visiting the beautiful planet. Most of the humans and aliens parted automatically for the Jedi to pass. The majority smiled at them, though some avoided their gazes. Typical. He redirected his attention to his friend. Quietly, he inquired, "Any news of Obi-Wan?"

Qui-Gon shook his head. Dark bags were under his eyes and he seemed thinner, though his voice was stronger as he replied, "I thought I felt him—or something, if not him—a week and a half ago. The only thing that kept me from simply diving into Un'ocean was the fact that I have no idea where the location of the Pennetian city is. Since hearing of your coming, I've studied everything I can find where Pennetians are seen the most—perhaps a city is located there."

"Do you have any coordinates?"

Qui-Gon nodded. "Just this morning I narrowed down two possible coordinates of where Zodek could have taken Obi-Wan. We can hire a skiff to go out there, though we'll have to swim since there isn't any watercraft here. I've already purchased breathers for us."

Kyran smiled as he glanced at Qui-Gon out of the corner of his eye. "Good. We can go out after you've had a hot meal and a few hours of sleep," he commented neutrally.

As expected, Qui-Gon protested. "Obi-Wan has been gone almost two weeks! How can I take a break now when I'm so close?"

"Because you'll do neither him, nor me, any good if you're so tired that you lose your focus," Kyran pointed out gently. He stopped and laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Yoda cautioned me before I left."

"Oh?" Qui-Gon asked, raising an eyebrow. "And what did the little troll say?"

Kyran chuckled at their nickname for Jedi Master Yoda. He resumed walking as he spoke. "Yoda can't...exactly...feel Obi-Wan in the Force anymore. No, let me finish," he said swiftly as Qui-Gon opened his mouth to say something. "He's not...dead, but he's not...alive...not really. Yoda and the other Jedi Masters on the Council are very perplexed—and worried. Mace also sends a message."

Qui-Gon sighed. Mace was their more responsible and practical friend. He had secured a seat on the Jedi Council at a fairly young age, and continuously reminded both Kyran and Qui-Gon that they could be on the Council by now if they would just adhere to the rules more. "What did he say?"

To Qui-Gon's surprise, Kyran started laughing. He laughed so hard that it was several minutes of travel before he could calm himself down enough to continue. "He told me to tell you to ignore the Council's rules and do whatever necessary to save Obi-Wan." Then he burst out laughing again.

Qui-Gon's own hearty peals of mirth joined Kyran's. He saw what was so funny now: Mace telling _him_ to ignore the Council—like he usually did anyway—in order to do what he needed? Mace, the 'must stick to every letter of every rule' Jedi?

"He must be getting lax in his older age," Qui-Gon remarked as he drew up to the small hostel he was staying at.

Kyran chuckled again. "Maybe it's the fact that the air has been hitting his bald head for too long now."

"Well, you're the one to blame for that, Kyran."

Kyran adopted a shocked look as he entered Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's rooms. "It was your idea of revenge, my friend. I merely was able to get the needed materials to carry it out as the senior padawan."

His observant emerald gaze swept over the still-packed bag of Obi-Wan's that sat in a corner. Piles of notes, datapads, and maps of Un'ocean with dots of color marking places were strewn about the main room. The corner that held Obi-Wan's bag, curiously, was the only clean part of the room.

"I'll order something from the diner located down the street," Qui-Gon was saying now as he picked up things, cleaning up enough to make room for the two of them to sit.

The door to the room that Obi-Wan was supposed to have slept in was closed. Qui-Gon noticed the direction of Kyran's gaze and remarked quietly, "He made his bed, but never had the chance to unpack his things, so I just left his room...available for him when he...returns."

Kyran could feel his friend's hidden anguish at Obi-Wan's long disappearance and wanted to kill the Council for delaying him so long in coming to his friend's aide. Yoda had wanted him to watch various initiates spar and, as Qui-Gon knew well himself, Yoda could not be denied when the little green master was determined. That had also been when Yoda had told him of what he had felt—or not felt, rather—when he quested for Obi-Wan in the Force.

"A shining beacon he is," the old Jedi had told Kyran, his ears drooping. "Gone the light is, but not."

Kyran had turned from the two female padawans who were currently sparring, confusion at Yoda's words on his features. "I...don't understand."

Yoda seemed extremely sad. "Muted Obi-Wan is. Waning. Time Qui-Gon does not have."

So Kyran had embarked on his week long journey to reach Penne't II. His search for a padawan could wait. He could only hope that he was not too late for his friend and Obi-Wan.

"Well, let's get some food so I can rest and find Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said now, leaning forward to find the code to program into his comlink for the diner. "I want to start tonight."

* * *

Qui-Gon had been asleep for almost four hours now, though Kyran himself did not sleep. He pored over the information that his friend had gathered trying to see if he could narrow things down more in order to increase their chances of finding Obi-Wan swiftly.

Unfortunately, there were still two completely different sites where the Pennetian city could be located and at opposite sides of the planet, too. And what if, after invading the Pennetians' homes, Obi-Wan was not even there? The two Jedi were about to create a lot of hostile enemies that could out-swim them by invading the city of the merpeople—something Jedi were not supposed to purposely do.

Mace did give them free reign—as if they needed it.

Kyran sighed and rubbed his upset stomach. Why did the Pennetians take Obi-Wan in the first place? If he and Qui-Gon could discover that reason, then they could have some peace of mind on Obi-Wan's condition, instead of this crushing uncertainty.

Memories of Obi-Wan flashed through Kyran's mind. He remembered when Qui-Gon had returned from Bandomeer, impressed at Obi-Wan's almost sacrifice for the greater good.

Then the image of Qui-Gon's conflicted, confused face after the whole Melida/Daan incident. Kyran had understood Obi-Wan's actions, as had Yoda, and had tried to make Qui-Gon realize it as well before he lost his padawan forever. Even to this day, Kyran could see Obi-Wan's determination not to fail his master or his training again; he wondered how aware Qui-Gon was of it. He was sure that no matter where Obi-Wan was or what was being done to him that the young man was doing his duty as a Jedi.

Kyran only hoped that this whole ordeal wouldn't end with them finding Obi-Wan dead.

"Evening.  
Kyran glanced up, a frown on his handsome face. "What are you doing up? You should be sleeping."

Qui-Gon held up his comlink. "Someone just contacted me. I think we finally have a lead on finding Obi-Wan."


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

"Grandmomma is at peace now," Welimina said quietly as she packed up more of the life's collection of objects in her grandmother's room. "But before she left, she gave to me a letter." She handed Qui-Gon an old datapad, then took her load of things onto the back porch.

Qui-Gon, when contacted by the Tourist Representative that afternoon, had been saddened to hear of Iriena's death that morning, but greatly surprised when he found that the granddaughter was requesting to see him. She had said that her grandmother had left her something in the remains of her room that might help Qui-Gon find his missing padawan.

Kyran watched him quietly from a corner as Qui-Gon read what Iriena had painstakingly typed for him to find. He had filled Kyran in about Iriena and her family on their way over to Iriena's vacation home.

Now, Qui-Gon's eyes widened as he read. "Kyran," he breathed. "Listen to this:

I'm not sure of where it is, but granddaddy always spoke of the Southern waters. Mostly of their warmth. Memories are not quite as solid to me, but I think I remember a discussion between Mother and Father about granddaddy. I was very little and granddaddy had just passed. Father mentioned coming to Penne't ii for a holiday and Mother refused. Her main reason, she said, was to avoid her father's fate. 'Many merfolk congregate in the South', she said. Father won her over by promising to stay on the mainland.

Qui-Gon stopped, his eyes busily scanning the rest of the old woman's writings. "Wonderful, fabulous woman," he finally said, his eyes still glued to the datapad. "She quoted a book." He finally glanced up and met Kyran's gaze meaningfully. "It tells of a religious ceremony the Pennetians engage in where a Jedi is chosen to equalize the internal balance of Penne't II."

"How?" Kyran asked, stepping forward slightly to crane his neck at the datapad. "What did they do?"

Qui-Gon shook his head. "She doesn't know, and neither did the author."

"And who was the author?"  
Quietly, Qui-Gon responded, "Her grandfather."

Kyran frowned. "But, I thought that you mentioned that she, nor her grandfather, knew why the Jedi was there, or what he was talking about?"

"Perhaps she remembered something else, or more specifically, the book."

Kyran sighed. He didn't want to be the herald of woe, but the facts must be faced, no matter how much Qui-Gon would ignore them. "Qui, Welimina said her grandmother had a disease that affected her memory. This information might not be reliable."

Qui-Gon looked as if Kyran had just struck him. Silence reigned for a moment, then the tall Jedi said quietly, "I know. But this is hope, however small. And, it fits with one of the areas that I have marked as a possible site for the Pennetian city. If there's even the slightest chance that my Obi-Wan is there..."

"Yes, I want him to be found as well," Kyran said, yet he was firm. "Do just one thing for me. Just one. And then we'll go look for Obi."

Qui-Gon sighed. Deep down he knew that Kyran was right to be cautious, to fully investigate, but he had been waiting for any small piece of information for almost two weeks now. Obi-Wan had been cut off from him for almost two weeks, a captive, suffering—alive?

"Very well," he answered at last. "What is it you want?"

"Let me contact the Temple, find if any Jedi were missing around that era," Kyran promptly said. "Lana's bored anyway. As she searches, we'll get a skiff and go out to the Southern waters."

Qui-Gon was suddenly grateful for his friend. He knew that Kyran didn't want to waste time on a wild nerf chase, yet here he was, offering to do something Qui-Gon clearly wanted to do, without any of the proof he wanted first.

"Thank you," Qui-Gon said softly.

Kyran quirked a smile. "Let's find Obi-Wan."

* * *

They had left their robes in Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's rooms, grabbed the breathers, and searched out a skiff pilot who was willing to go as far south as they wanted. Now they were skimming over the water, the wind beating at their skin almost as hard as the bright sun.

Kyran, lounging across from Qui-Gon in the skiff, gave a little jump. He grinned sheepishly as he brought out his comlink. "Forgot how quick she was," he remarked as he stood and came to sit by Qui-Gon so that his friend could hear over the rushing wind. "Go, love."

Lana's honeyed voice was hard to hear over the wind, but the two Jedi picked up her words easily enough.

"Well, it didn't take much to find what you wanted, Kyran," she said. "During those years three Jedi disappeared. Teams were sent out for them. Two were found and their bodies brought back to the Temple, accidents on their missions. One was never found, nor a body recovered later on. His name was..." There was a pause. "Yant Justain."

Kyran could feel Qui-Gon's eagerness at this piece of news. "What was his mission? Where did he go?" Qui-Gon asked.

"He...what in the galaxy is that noise?" Lana asked.

Kyran smiled. "It's the wind. We're on a skiff, headed out to someplace that Obi-Wan might be. I have my holonet patched into my comlink so it'll pick up down here. Go on."

"Oh, well, I wondered. Anyways, Knight Justain was a researcher for the Council. He spent most of his time away from the Temple as he did odd errands for the Jedi: discovered a few new species and quite a few planets. Well, he deviated from one of his assignments, which wasn't like him. Didn't even tell the Jedi where he went or why. His ship was discovered almost seven months later, Coruscant time, on Penne't II.

"Isn't that where you are?" Lana asked, perplexed.

"It sure is," Kyran responded darkly. He glanced at Qui-Gon. "I'm not liking this. Not at all."

"What about ship logs?" Qui-Gon asked Lana. "The logs should have _some_thing from him in it."

"Hold on," Lana said. "That's restricted at the top levels. It'll take me a minute to crack it."

Kyran chuckled at his ex-slicer wife. Amazing that she had agreed to marry him, a Jedi...

"I have a bad feeling about this, Kyran," Qui-Gon said, breaking into his thoughts. His eyes were focused on something distant. "Something about all this is...deeper than we think. Something wants Obi-Wan, and wants him badly. I didn't tell you that when I thought I felt him a week or so ago, I also heard someone whisper the word 'mine' before I lost all contact with him. It sounded like a woman."

He blinked. "Wait...Iriena said that the Jedi was muttering something about 'her' and 'she' and that it confused her grandfather. Could it be the same 'her' that I heard? It was a female voice that I heard..."

Kyran shook his head. "Qui-Gon, how could it? She'd have to be over two hundred years old now."

"Different species live different amounts of time," Qui-Gon countered, trying to think this through.

"Not on Penne't II," Kyran pointed, playing the demon's advocate as he saw Qui-Gon's wheels turning. "Merpeople live only a hundred and forty years, at the most."

Lana broke in before Qui-Gon could answer. "Ok, I got it. The last thing on Justain's logs is this short message. Hold on and I'll patch it through so you can listen to it."

Another pause, and then a young baritone voice said gravelly, "I am departing to Penne't II. A woman has called to me through the Force, beckoning me. I feel that it is a trap, but as a Jedi I cannot resist the call to help someone who might be in danger. My search for the rumored Force-resistant animals will have to wait. End log."

Lana's voice came on the line again. "That's all that is here. There are earlier logs, but I'm sure none of those will have what we need. Did that help?"

Qui-Gon and Kyran both nodded.

"Thanks, love," Kyran told her, knowing that she couldn't see their heads nodding. "It tells us that there's something sinister going on here for Jedi."

"Well, I think...oh!" She interrupted herself suddenly. "I just remembered! There's a note in Knight Justain's file in his earlier years that he's a 'strongly gifted child with a bright future'. I only mention that because there is an exact double of that note in Obi-Wan's own file."

"When did you get into Obi-Wan's file?" Qui-Gon wondered.

"When I heard he was missing," returned Lana easily. "And just so you know, his file has already been sealed by someone who doesn't want this knowledge coming out...or had a hand in helping Obi-Wan's captors decide who to get."

"I don't like the implications of that," Kyran said dryly. "Be careful, love. Don't want anything happening to you."

Lana was silent for a moment. "I'm always careful," she finally said, but her tone was not as haughty as it could have been. "I have to log out of this before someone traces me. Is that all you need?"

Kyran glanced at Qui-Gon, who nodded. "Yes, Lana, and thank you. We'll contact you again when we are able. Love you."

"Love you." She clicked off.

Kyran sighed. "Well, we know one thing for sure now."

Qui-Gon nodded, his eyes narrowed. "Yes, that whoever has Obi-Wan has done this before. And that they're not going to like me when I find out who they are and what has happened to him."


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

The water was dark now. The shades of blue had blended from a cerulean to a deep sapphire darker than a midnight sky on a planet with only one sun. Silence reigned, becoming a tangible pressure on their ears the farther they swam, pressing in on them like their sodden clothes.

Neither of them had any kind of light to illuminate their way so it was a welcome relief to their straining eyes to detect a glow in the distance. Qui-Gon tapped Kyran on the shoulder to point at the glow. Kyran's head moved in what was most likely a nod.

_Looks like you were right, my friend_, Qui-Gon heard in his head in Kyran's mental voice.

_Yes, but let's hope that I'm also correct on Obi-Wan being kept here,_ Qui-Gon sent back to his friend through the bond that they had shared since Qui-Gon was five and Kyran eleven.

Kyran swam a little ahead of Qui-Gon, his movements as sure as his next statement. _You will find him._

Qui-Gon would have sighed if the breather would have let him. He was not as sure anymore if he would find Obi-Wan, or even if his padawan would be alive when he did. He was nearing the city of the Pennetians, yet he still did not feel his padawan. He did not want to dwell on what that could mean.

_The lack of life in this area disturbs me,_ Kyran sent the farther they swam, the city becoming more of a presence than just a glow now. They could see walls made of coral, tall spires and open windows, but not a single Pennetian swimming toward them to ask what they were doing there—there was not a single merperson as far as they could see.

Qui-Gon refrained from commenting. He halted as they drew up to the large, sprawling city devoid of life. The coral gave off a soft glow: the glow that had drawn them here. But where were the Pennetians?

_Qui, look!_ Kyran suddenly pointed toward the left where a large, enclosed section of the city was. _Humans! Mainlanders, I suppose._

Qui-Gon wondered how Mainlanders could survive down here in the water...until he looked closely at the section of the city that Kyran was referring to. There was a kind of bubble that encircled the city that held the humans. They walked and talked, seemingly happy, down the halls of coral, clad in the same type of dark green mesh that Zodek had used for a belt.

_We need to see what they know,_ Qui-Gon decided. He kicked upward and quickly approached the bubble, startling a few humans. They stared at him as he pressed his hands against the bubble. The bubble was hard, yet cushioned and was flimsy enough that it pressed inward, though it did not break. _I wonder how we get in?_

A human girl, dressed in barely anything at all, approached him, smiling. She made motions with her hands that he should follow her. She ran down the corridor toward the far left of that section where a kind of blister was. It was here that she stopped and backed up a few steps, gesturing that they were to press hard against the blister.

Qui-Gon glanced at Kyran, who shrugged and indicated that he should go first. _Thanks a lot, Kyran,_ he told his friend, who sent back a mental laugh. Experimentally, he pressed his full body against the blister...and found himself suddenly in a dry atmosphere and out of the water, the scantily clad girl giggling at him. He removed his breather and took a deep breath—the air was musty but good.

Kyran stumbled to the ground beside him. He groaned as he straightened, pulling off his breather as well. "I'm getting too old for this," he muttered.

The girl and several others were watching them, some were wary and others joyful.

"Tell us of news from the Mainland!" An old man suddenly appealed. As if he had burst a dam, the crowd of people all began talking and asking questions of them.

"How did you get here without being caught?"

"What do you want here?"

"What's going on up there?"

"Do you know what's happened to my kin?"

Qui-Gon held up his hands for silence. "Hold it, hold it!" Obediently, they quieted. "Hello," he smiled at them. There were about forty around him and Kyran now. "I'm Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and this is my friend, Jedi Knight Kyran Josel. We're searching for my padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Chieftain Zodek took him about two weeks ago. Has he arrived here?" His eyes searched the crowd, but did not really expect to see the tousled head there.

The people murmured, confirming among themselves. Evidently, the places they lived in were not all in one place. Finally, the word came back that none of the human captives had seen a young Jedi boy in any part of the city.

"Wait!" A voice called from the back. A young woman was running up to them. "A Jedi boy, you say?"

Qui-Gon's heart leapt in his chest. Could this woman have information about Obi-Wan? Was he simply to go to the next bubbled section of the city and there he'd be, grinning up at him and saying "Well, it took you long enough, Master" in that playful tone he sometimes took?

"What news do you have?" Kyran was asking her as she pushed her way through the crowd.

Once she was in front of them, they could see that she could not have been much older than Qui-Gon. Her hair, like all the women they could see in the bubble, had been cropped short, though it still retained its coppery shine. "My son!" she panted. "My son has been taken from me. He..." She stopped, having to pause for air. Someone must have told her from farther down in the bubble that two Jedi had been seen swimming for the entrance.

Qui-Gon was ready to burst, ready for her next words. He was certain that now he would find his padawan and take him away from this place. Then they would return and demand the release of the other captives.

"He was to be taken for a special assignment," she finished. "I don't know what for, but on the visit I was allowed he mentioned that he fed a Jedi boy who was being kept secluded in the deepest part of the city."

"Where is this?" Qui-Gon asked, unable to keep the excitement from his voice. "Where do we find it?"

The woman pointed at a deep crack in the rock over to their right. Her answer was in a hushed tone and the others were quiet as she spoke it. "Where the merfolk are gathered: in the Crater Rock where She is."

"'She' who?" Kyran immediately asked, his tone gentle.

The humans all glanced at each other uneasily. Finally, the old man who spoke first earlier spoke again. "The Mother Planet. Or at least that's what the merfolk call Her."

Qui-Gon's blood chilled. The...'mother planet'? "What...what does she want with Obi-Wan?" he forced himself to ask.

Kyran stepped closer to him in a gesture of support, should he need it. He certainly hoped he wouldn't, not in front of all these people with more adding to the crowd all the time.

A young girl about twelve with extremely dark brown hair folded her arms as if she were cold. In a small voice, she answered, "She wants to survive, like us. But we rely on each other. She takes it from others."

"It's the balance," a man in the back argued. "I've spoken with Triandeena herself about it."

The crowd murmured at the name.

"Who's this Triandeena?" Kyran called over the noise. "What does she know?"

"She's the Speaker for the Mother Planet," the woman whose boy attended to Obi-Wan informed them with a shudder. "She's the one who came to get my Niklas. She's second only to Zodek himself."

Qui-Gon and Kyran exchanged a dark look. This was definitely not sounding good for Obi-Wan.

"So what did she say?" Qui-Gon asked the man in the back.

The crowd turned to face him, and the dark-skinned man fidgeted nervously as he found so many pairs of eyes on him. "They've been searching for someone to stabilize the planet for years now...another Jedi. They say the first Jedi kept the balance of good and evil, light and dark, for a long time, but now there is so much here of evil that She needs someone more powerful to create the harmony again."

"She, as in Triandeena?" Kyran inquired.

"No." The man shook his head. "The Mother Planet."

"I don't understand this 'mother planet'," Qui-Gon said in frustration. "What do you mean by that? Who is she?"

"She is the life of the planet," the twelve year old girl piped up again, her eyes large pools of sadness. "She _is_ the planet."

Kyran sucked in a deep breath. "You mean...the planet...Penne't II...is sentient?"

The adults nodded, though the girl was clearly confused at the word.

Qui-Gon briefly closed his eyes. His padawan was the one the planet wanted—or was it _needed_?—to keep the balance of light and dark. "Merciful Force..." he whispered. Would Obi-Wan even still be alive?

"There's still time," the young mother's voice said harshly.

Qui-Gon's eyes flew open to find her staring at him. "What do you mean?" Hope threatened to blossom in him again.

The man in the back was nodding. "Jarba's right. There is still time, I think. The ritual won't be complete. You might could save him, though I don't know if the process can be reversed once it's begun."

"How?" Qui-Gon's voice was a whisper of longing.

The mother pointed at the blister. "Leave here the same way you exited. Go to the coral that you will see. Find my son, Niklas. He will know where your padawan is. Beware of other humans in that area. They are so warped by what the merfolk tell them that they are fiercely loyal to them."

Qui-Gon immediately turned to the blister, slipping his breather back on his face. Behind him he heard Kyran say, "We'll come back to free you."

"Don't bother," one voice said. "We like it down here or we could have left ages ago."

Someone else snapped, "Oh, shut up, Gloute. Some of us want to go home. If we could hold our breaths that long, we'd already be there."

Qui-Gon felt Kyran gently press on his back to signal that he was right behind him. Together, they pressed on the blister and were once again on the hunt for Obi-Wan.


	10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Qui-Gon latched his grappler hook onto the ledge of the fissure. He glanced down into the blackness of the depths, wondering again if his Obi-Wan was down there. Yet he had to go down there and see, if only to discover nothing.

With powerful pushes of his legs, he rappelled down the side of the crack. It was a difficult process in the weight of the water and seemed to take hours to finally catch sight of a dim glow that was similar to the Pennetian city above.

_Looks like we've found something,_ Kyran's mental voice said in Qui-Gon's head. _We'll have to be cautious._

_I still can't feel Obi-Wan,_ Qui-Gon sent back, battling his frustration. He reached into the Force, trying to dig through the swirls and eddies to find his apprentice. Once—just once—he thought that he heard, felt, sensed a faint echo of Obi-Wan—but it was gone as quickly as it had come.

Finally, the two Jedi had reached a type of sandy bottom. Carefully, they detached themselves from the end of the hook, but left the smartrope hanging for their return. The water was the deepest blue before turning black and the pressure was almost too much to bare as they swam toward the glow.

_We'll have to do this quickly._

Qui-Gon sent Kyran an agreement, wincing in the water at the physical and mental assault to his senses. The Force was very strongly active here and it cried out to him with words that he could not quite hear.

_I've never felt the Force like this before. Almost as if it is...wounded,_ he told Kyran as they swam faster toward what appeared to be a smaller version of the Pennetian city. _It's very much..._

_Alive,_ his friend finished. _I'm starting to get a very bad feeling about this._

_So am I._

Soon the two could make out humans hurrying to and fro in the bubble-protected city. Remembering the young mother's warning, they crouched low in the water by the blister, waiting for the way to clear to enter. The humans had all just passed beyond a curve in the corridor when Kyran started.

_Qui,_ Kyran said tightly. _I think we'd do better to take our chances with the unarmed humans than with the approaching Pennetians._

Qui-Gon looked up to see what his friend was talking about. A group of twenty or so Pennetians, heavily armed with spears and nets, were swimming upward from a large, milky bubble on their right.

_I agree,_ he decided quickly as he swam toward the blister. He and Kyran both feel into the dry air at the same time, then paused in the shadows as the Pennetians swam past them with their powerful tails, headed toward the opening of the fissure.

Once they were gone, Kyran pocketed his breather and said in a low tone, "I feel so much...despair...here." He paused, then added quietly, "It's Obi-Wan's."

Qui-Gon nodded, scanning the coral hall in front of him. As soon as he had hit the air, he had felt his padawan's emotional echoes, though he still did not feel Obi-Wan himself. His heart yearned to find his padawan safe and unharmed, though he became less convinced of that possibility by the minute.

Kyran briefly lay a hand on his shoulder, then strode past him to approach a teenage girl walking slowly, her arms loaded with some sort of unfinished netting.

"Hello there," Kyran said to her, smiling warmly. "We're looking for Niklas. Do you know where he is?"

The girl shifted the load in her hands as she studied them for a moment. Finally, she asked, "You've almost missed the whole thing. Our Father is almost complete with our Mother. Do you mean to disturb Niklas at this critical time?"

"No," Qui-Gon assured her, smiling at her as well. His heart pounded in his chest and he itched to run down the halls of the city until he found his Obi-Wan. "We want to assist Niklas, not disturb him." He had no idea what he was talking about, but he must have said something right for the girl broke into a smile of her own, her white teeth a reflection of her pearl necklace in its gleam.

"Oh! Then I won't delay you. He's to the right, attending our Father's shell. Balance is near!" she told them joyously.

Qui-Gon looked at Kyran, and they both broke into a run. They ignored the startled faces of the other humans that they passed, some wearing necklaces and others not. Soon, they could see the milky-white bubble of earlier up close. Qui-Gon glanced into it as he drew nearer to it.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

There, inside the pulsing bubble, lay Obi-Wan.

He gasped, and suddenly Kyran was at his side.

"I can't see him well, but he's in there. Right there, at last!" he murmured as his eyes fought to keep Obi-Wan in view through the bubble. The bubble was such an odd consistency that all he could make out was the blurry shape of his padawan laying on the floor of the bubble, his hands stretched above his head and enclosed in a green chain.

"Come on," Kyran urged. "There's got to be a way in. Let's find Niklas; he'll know." He looked nervously up, seeing what Qui-Gon in his preoccupation with his padawan did not: a ring of Pennetians circled around the bubble.

With great reluctance, Qui-Gon let Kyran lead him away from his padawan and to a small room off of a corridor. The room housed six humans, none wearing necklaces. They stared at them, then a woman in her later years, her hands steeped in a kind of seaweed, gestured them to come nearer.

"What is it you want?" she asked them, her hands busy at her work as she watched them.

"We are Jedi," Qui-Gon told them quietly. "We have come for the boy."

_What are you doing?! We were warned..._

_Trust me_, Qui-Gon told Kyran. _These people can be trusted. _He had noticed on their journey in this miniature city that those wearing necklaces had a dreamy, joyful look to their face, and those without necklaces seemed moody and disgusted.

The woman regarded him a moment longer. "You'd be his master then?" she finally asked, her hands stopping their work.

Qui-Gon nodded while Kyran watched silently.

"Niklas!" The woman barked.

A boy about eight years old ran up to her, glancing at the two Jedi. "Yes, Addie?"

Addie nodded to the Jedi. "They're here to rescue the Jedi boy."

Niklas turned his face fully to the Jedi and Qui-Gon was stunned with how much he resembled his mother, except for his hair color. "He's not so good," Niklas told them solemnly.

Qui-Gon wanted to cry at the child's words. Instead he merely waited for someone to tell him what could be done, point him in the right direction, so he could save his Obi-Wan.

A man patted Niklas on the shoulder. "Niklas, go get Teran and Veman in here."

Niklas eagerly ran off to get the two that the man named.

The man gave the Jedi a cold smile. "We have been waiting for his master to come. We have discussed many plans to help, but all of them required his master. Now we will get to save the boy."

"I'm telling you, he can't be saved!" another man sitting in the corner and slicing up smelly herbs said. "They already started it! It's been too long! He's lost."

Addie smacked the man at the herbs with a stained hand. "His master is here. I'm sure he'll be alright now, you pessimist!"

Qui-Gon cleared his throat to regain their attention, uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going and with being referred to as if he wasn't there. "So what is this plan of yours?"

"Simon needs you!" came Niklas' voice from the hall before anyone could answer.

"Over here!" Addie hissed at the two Jedi and two younger men pulled them into the shadows by the door, stepping in front of them to try to hide them better, though with Qui-Gon's height he had a good view.

Two dark men wearing impressive necklaces of black pearl strode in after a bouncing Niklas. They wore the same green net clothing all the other humans seemed to wear in their water city and they were watching the boy with interest.

"What do you want, Niklas?" One of the men was asking, ignoring the other workers. "Is it something to do with the Father?"

Niklas giggled and drew back into the protection of Addie's arms. The men just then seemed to notice where they were and that there were seven pairs of eyes on them.

"Hey, what are you..."

The older man—Simon, Qui-Gon guessed—walked quickly behind them and hit them hard over the head with a thick rock that he had been using as a plate. The two men with necklaces immediately sank to the ground, unconscious.

Simon grinned at the Jedi. "Now put on their necklaces and garments so that the merfolk won't immediately notice you shouldn't be there and you might have a better chance to save your padawan."


	11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Qui-Gon felt decidedly uncomfortable in what little 'clothing' he was wearing. The green mesh outfits the Pennetians gave their captives to wear did little to hide or protect modesty. He and Kyran wore only a kind of wrap around their hips that stretched to the tops of their knees, and the black pearl necklaces. The pearls were cold against his muscled chest, but he found himself being given respect by those that he, Kyran and Niklas passed on the way to Obi-Wan's bubble.

His mind caught on his padawan's name. Was Obi-Wan all right? None of the captives had wanted to give them any details and had avoided their eyes whenever one of them had tried to ask more specifically about Obi-Wan's welfare. He had sensed intense sadness and anger from their helpers and, in more than just one or two, no hope for his padawan.

"Now, you have to be careful," Niklas said as he paused outside of what seemed like the rest of the corridor, marred only by a hole high in the wall. "They are watching." Without further warning, the boy pressed the fingertips of his free hand—the other was holding a bowl—against the wall. A loud sucking sound echoed through the corridor and the hole widened quickly, becoming big enough to admit them...and revealing what was inside.

It was all Qui-Gon could do from crying out at the sight of his apprentice.

Obi-Wan was glowing, a light haze seemed to envelope his entire body that lay on the floor, his hands chained above his head. His eyes were closed and he was not breathing, though Qui-Gon was struck by the oddest notion that Obi-Wan was still alive, though barely. He also was clothed in the barely covering mesh that all the rest of the humans wore, but with one difference to his outfit: his neck was surrounded by many different kinds of shell and gem necklaces.

_He's...faded..._

Qui-Gon glanced at Kyran as they walked in, then back at Obi-Wan. His eyes widened slightly. Kyran was right: although Obi-Wan was solid enough to lay on the floor, Qui-Gon could see _through_ him to the other side of the bubble.

What had the Pennetians done to his Obi-Wan?

_Mind the moment..._

Again, Qui-Gon glanced at Kyran. His friend had his face set in a calm expression that betrayed nothing as he gazed at Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon quickly did the same. They had to react quickly, adapt, if they were to get Obi-Wan away from here.

A Pennetian woman with an intricate shell necklace swam up to the bubble and pressed her hand to it. Her mouth opened and, after a delay for her voice to carry through the water, they heard, "What are these two doing near the Father?"

Qui-Gon and Kyran bowed to Triandeena, having been warned by the captives ahead of time about the Speaker.

"We are merely assisting the boy as the Father's time grows near," Kyran said, keeping his head bowed.

Qui-Gon was often amazed at how quickly Kyran adapted to circumstances around him. His own mind seemed stuck in a mire of thick muck as he tried to think beyond the pitiful sight of his dying padawan.

Niklas, he was interested to note, had kneeled beside Obi-Wan's head and had started spooning the seaweed stew-like concoction that the captives had been preparing into his padawan's slack mouth.

Triandeena regarded them for a moment. "His time is near to be completed. Your assistance is no longer needed."

Kyran shot Qui-Gon a look. Zodek is not here.

Qui-Gon immediately seized on that information. "Chieftain Zodek wishes us to cleanse his body with water from the ocean before he has completed the ceremony," he lied quickly. He would do so much better at spinning a plausible story to get Obi-Wan out of there if he just understood what the Pennetians were doing!

Triandeena's golden eyes narrowed. She opened her mouth to say something...then closed it, her eyes glazing over slightly. After a moment, she nodded. "Very well. Return quickly." She swam up, gestured, and the circle of Pennetians left with her toward the main city.

"_That_ was too easy," Kyran said quietly as he knelt on the strange floor beside the glowing Obi-Wan.

Qui-Gon had no room in his mind to spare for the oddities of the Pennetians. He yanked on the chains holding Obi-Wan's hands and his heart nearly broke when Obi-Wan did not move at all once he was free. Very carefully, he gathered his padawan into his arms, feeling the strangeness of holding something that did not seem to be entirely there. He regarded Niklas for a moment. "Surely you're going to explain this?"

Kyran looked at him as if he were crazy. "We don't have time to wait around for another explanation!" he hissed as he stood and peered around the hole they had come in.

Niklas met Qui-Gon's gaze steadily, almost eerily for a child of eight. "I can show the way out. I can talk as I run. Can you?"

Qui-Gon snorted softly. This child had guts—like his Obi-Wan. "Keep up," he ordered to Kyran as he and Niklas charged out of the bubble and down the corridor.

Niklas ran to the left, heading back the way they came so that the Jedi could gather their things. As he ran, he talked fast and as bluntly as only children can, filling in the Jedi about Obi-Wan needed as the balance to the planet and that he was being 'absorbed' into the Mother Planet in order to accomplish that.

"Is there any way to reverse it?" Qui-Gon demanded after Kyran had paused only briefly to dash inside the preparation room to grab their things.

Niklas shrugged as he led them toward a blister that they had not seen before. "I don't know. Never heard of it before."

The group halted at the blister and Kyran dug into their tunics to find the breathers—and the extra one that Qui-Gon had brought for his apprentice. Kyran attached both Obi-Wan's and Qui-Gon's breathers to their faces, helping Qui-Gon out since he was trying to latch Obi-Wan to his chest with his tunic and pants in order for him to swim quicker out of the Un'ocean.

Kyran patted Niklas on the shoulder as Qui-Gon tightened the knots securing Obi-Wan to him. "Will you be alright to be left here, now that you've helped us?"

Niklas grinned at him. "Merfolk don't hurt us kids. I can say you made me."

Kyran chuckled. "You do that." He saw that Qui-Gon was waiting for him by the blister. "We'll be back to rescue you all," he promised, then slipped on his own breather.

Qui-Gon pushed on the blister and once again entered the water that was as black as night, hoping to the Force that he could find a way to reverse the process that had been done to his padawan. Quickly, he and Kyran swam toward the surface.


	12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

The more he swam, the more concerned he became. No Pennetians could be seen—again. He couldn't place it, he didn't know why, but their lack of pursuit disturbed him.

_Have you noticed something...odd?_ He asked Kyran as they floated in place for the third time to rest their arms and legs on the long journey back to the surface and their waiting skiff.

Kyran could be seen nodding in the lighter blue of the water. _Oh, you mean the fact that we seem to have gotten away with Obi-Wan without a single Pennetian coming after us?_

_Yeah, that would be it_, Qui-Gon told his friend dryly. So Kyran had noticed it, too.

Kyran looked back down to where they had come. Nothing was visible in the dark blue of the water. _Qui, this worries me more than even I want to admit._

_Yeah, well, you said it earlier_, Qui-Gon tried to joke to push his own unease away. _You're getting old._

Kyran ignored him. _Any change in Obi-Wan?_

Qui-Gon and Kyran had both hoped that the farther Obi-Wan was taken from the Pennetian city, and the Mother Planet's stronghold, the more he would improve. _No change,_ Qui-Gon had to admit. Obi-Wan still glowed and what was worse: he was growing more transparent by the hour.

_Then let's get out of here,_ Kyran determined, kicking upward again._ I don't think we have much longer to go._

Qui-Gon merely hoped his padawan did not also have 'not much farther to go' until he lost him.

* * *

With relief Qui-Gon's head broke the surface of the water beside the skiff. He yanked off his breather and called out, "Hello there!" to get the pilot's attention. He had lost all track of time while under the water and was vaguely surprised to see stars shining above him.

The pilot peered over the side of the hovering skiff, surprise etched on his face. "I thought you were never coming back!" he called to them as he lowered ropes for them to grab on to and pull themselves onto the skiff with. "Them merfolk came up once or twice and tried to run me off, but I just ignored 'em."

Qui-Gon waited until Kyran was on the skiff before untying Obi-Wan's limp form and handing it up to his friend and the pilot. Then he hoisted himself into the skiff and lay there, panting, for a moment. "Thank you," he finally said to the pilot. "After that swim we could have never swam back to shore on our own."

The pilot nodded matter-of-factly, then gestured to the faintly glowing Obi-Wan. "Found your padawan, I see."

"Yes," Kyran spoke up from where he was digging through their robes for his comlink. "And we need to get to the Mainland as soon as you can get us there."

The pilot took the hint with a smile and they were soon skimming back the way they had come. Qui-Gon cradled Obi-Wan's head against his chest and covered the younger man with his cloak, though the night air was chilly and caused Qui-Gon to shiver with his exposed body. Kyran felt his cold and dragged himself over to his friend to share his cloak with him.

Kyran toggled on his comlink and adjusted it for a clearer frequency. "Lana, love?"

It took a moment but finally Lana's voice came over the comlink. "Are you back? Did you find him?"

Kyran sadly regarded the fading youth held protectively in Qui-Gon's embrace. "Yes, we found him."

"Is he...?"

"He's alive," Kyran affirmed. "Though I'm not sure for how long. We're starting on our way back. It'll take us a few hours to get our things and set out for Coruscant."

"We're not going to Coruscant."

Kyran glanced at Qui-Gon, confused. "What? Why not?"

Qui-Gon shook his head. "I can't explain it, but I know that he'll never make it there alive. He needs attention now. The Mainland has a fairly good medcenter. We'll have to take our chances with it."

"Our healers are the best in the galaxy..."

Qui-Gon nodded. "I know, and if I thought Obi-Wan would make it, we would go to Coruscant. Yet Coruscant is a week's flight away—five days if you have an extremely fast ship. I do not believe he has that long."

The two friends stared at each other, forgetting Lana on the line until she cleared her throat and said, "Okay, so he stays there. Do you want me to see if I can get a healer team to come your way?"

Qui-Gon sighed. If Obi-Wan could not make it to Coruscant, then a healer team certainly couldn't make it to Penne't II, but how could he deny his padawan that hope, however small it was? He sighed. "If one will come within the next few hours, yes."

There was a smile in Lana's voice when she flippantly replied, "Oh, I think one will make it."

The men were both confused. "What?"

"How?" demanded Qui-Gon.

"Well..." She stretched the word out for a moment. "I talked to Master Yoda shortly after Kyran left, and he departed with a healer team as soon as he could get them to pack up. He should be there by now."

Qui-Gon couldn't believe his luck. A healer team and Master Yoda on Penne't II? "Lana, if you weren't married to my best friend, I could kiss you," he breathed.

Kyran laughed, though the sound was mostly swallowed by the biting wind as the skiff tore across the water to reach the safety and security of dry land.

Lana's reply was a tease and he could almost see the black-haired woman wink. "Who says you still can't? Just remember that when you and Obi-Wan get back here."

"It's a promise," Qui-Gon told her solemnly.

"Well," Kyran chuckled into the comlink. "Now that you two are done flirting in front of the jealous husband and we have a healer for Obi-Wan, I will save money on this conversation and tell you good-bye, my love."

"Put the comlink to your ear, love," was Lana's sultry reply.

Kyran did so and, although Qui-Gon did not hear what was said, he could plainly see his friend's face grow red in the moonlight. The older man put his comlink away without further comment, though it took many minutes for his face to return to normal.

Love. Normally forbidden for Jedi, but Kyran and Lana had fought for their right to stay together. Some Jedi had agreed while others had not, but even after a year they were still madly and passionately in love. Their attachment to each other grew stronger every day.

Attachment. Another thing that Jedi were not encouraged to have. Yet attachment grew where it wished, and most especially between Master and Padawan.

Qui-Gon studied the unnaturally glowing face in his arms. Obi-Wan was so transparent now that he could plainly see his own legs that were underneath his padawan's head.

Attachment.

Qui-Gon was definitely attached to his padawan. Obi-Wan was loyal, brave, and determined. His sharp sense of humor arose to brighten the darkest moments of their missions and to tease his master whenever he could. He would make a fine Jedi Knight someday—if the planet of Penne't II did not take that away from him first.

For Qui-Gon felt the planet's will now. All he had to do was direct his thoughts to his padawan, to try to sense Obi-Wan's strong presence, and he felt an overwhelming force that was sucking the life from his padawan. He had taken Obi-Wan from the embrace of the planet, but the planet was still going to win this tug-of-war for his precious padawan. He knew now why it had been so easy to take Obi-Wan away from the Pennetians: he did not have to be with them in order for the ritual to be completed, not at this stage, not that it was almost complete.

He was going to lose Obi-Wan. A tear leaked from his eye to roll down his cheek and land on his leg, passing completely through Obi-Wan as if he were not there, though Qui-Gon could still feel the young man's body in his arms.

"Stay with me, Obi-Wan," he whispered hoarsely to the only thing that mattered more to him than life itself. "Fight for me. Stay with me."

As the moon rose higher in the sky, matched in its brilliance only by Obi-Wan's own glow, and the skiff sped across the water to the approaching lights of the Mainland city, his padawan did not stir.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

With the patience born of years, Master Yoda awaited them on the dock. The small green Jedi Master seemed to blend in with this planet of natural colors and simple necessities of life, though his presence radiated power.

Qui-Gon had never been more happy to see the little troll in his life.

"Master Yoda!" he exclaimed as he carefully carried Obi-Wan off of the skiff. "I'm glad to see that you made it."

Yoda regarded the still boy in his master's arms. Qui-Gon could barely keep his grip on his padawan now; even Obi-Wan's outline was losing its solidarity.

"Long journey it was. Fear too late I am," Yoda said softly, his ears drooping slightly.

Kyran gave the little master a quick bow of respect. "I'm sure that now you are here, we can figure out how to keep Obi-Wan with us," Qui-Gon's friend said with forced enthusiasm.

Qui-Gon had his doubts and so, it seemed by the way that Yoda glanced at Kyran, did the most powerful Jedi Master in Temple history. Yet all Yoda said was, "Brought healers I did. At the medcenter they are."

The group of Jedi began walking toward a speeder that Yoda had rented for their use in order for quicker travel to the medcenter. Qui-Gon drew up closer to Yoda. Quietly, he confessed, "I am beginning to think that there is nothing to be done, Master Yoda. How can we fight the will of a planet?"

"Planet you say? Heard little of events I have. Fill me in you should," Yoda answered, one of his long ears twisting a little toward Qui-Gon for better hearing as they drew up to the speeder.

The Jedi swiftly arranged themselves in the speeder so that Kyran piloted, leaving Obi-Wan to lay on Qui-Gon's lap in the back and Yoda in the passenger side on the front. As Kyran drove through the streets of Mainland, Qui-Gon told Master Yoda all that they knew of the Mother Planet and the Pennetian ritual that was taking Obi-Wan away from life as he knew it. Kyran was cruising to a stop in front of the one story medcenter when Yoda finally spoke.

"Disturbing this is. Met a similar fate another Jedi did, you say?"

Qui-Gon nodded as he reluctantly handed Obi-Wan to Kyran so he could climb out of the speeder. "Lana found out that it was Knight Yant Justain."

Yoda froze. The reaction was so unexpected that both Kyran and Qui-Gon felt chills travel down their spines. "Knight Justain?" the Jedi Master inquired softly.

The two friends exchanged worried glances.

"Yes, Master Yoda," Kyran answered him, handing Obi-Wan back to his master. It unnerved him to hold something that existed according to his eyes, but wasn't there according to his sense of touch.

Qui-Gon wanted to stride straight into the medcenter and gather all available healers and doctors to come to his padawan's aide, but he sensed that Yoda was remembering something that could be vitally important to Obi-Wan's future. "What is it, Master Yoda?"

Yoda finally began walking into the center. "Promising Justain was. Like Obi-Wan. Strong. A long future he had. A certain Jedi asked for him to this area to go. Disturbing similarities I see."

Kyran frowned. "The same Jedi asked for Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon to come to Penne't II that had asked for Knight Justain to come over to this sector? But, Master Yoda, only you are that old..."

Qui-Gon immediately shook his head as they rounded a sterile corner to arrive in the Critical Ward. "There is one other."

"Ah, there you are at last!" came a loud exclamation to their left. A tall humanoid male was striding toward them, his head covered with salt and pepper hair.

Qui-Gon smiled and inclined his head in a warm greeting. "Glad to see you, Master Han'yaie."

Han'yaie chuckled. "Not so formal, Qui-Gon! We're too well acquainted. Now, let me see what I can do about your padawan." He peered at Obi-Wan, taking in his glowing countenance and transparent body. Half-closing his eyes, he passed his hands over Obi-Wan...and through him. Finally, he opened his eyes again and all joviality had left his face. "This is not good."

"Bacta, Master?" Han'yaie's own padawan, a petite human girl from Coruscant called Anya, asked as she hurried up to them.

To everyone's surprise, Han'yaie shook his head. "Bacta will not save this boy. He is suffering from his spirit, not a physical wound. No conventional medications can be used to save him."

"You can't...save him?" Qui-Gon asked in a whisper, feeling as if his own spirit had just died. It was hard for him to breathe as he stared at the healer that he had known from his youth.

Han'yaie gave Qui-Gon a sharp and reproachful look. "That's not what I said. I said that no _conventional_ medications can be used. We'll just have to find an _un_conventional one. Bring him in here," he directed, showing them a round room that was colored a muted yellow.

Quickly, Qui-Gon obeyed, laying Obi-Wan on a softly padded table in the middle of the room. His padawan's disappearing body did not even crease the cushioning.

"Sit around him," Han'yaie instructed all the Jedi. Soon there was a circle of Jedi, from padawan to Master, surrounding the fading Obi-Wan. "I've been studying the effects of gathered powers in the Force on other Jedi. I know that some Masters have pulled their padawans from the brink of death, and visa-versa, merely by using their influence on the Force. I can _feel_ something pulling Obi-Wan's life from him by using the very Force that we use to survive. One Jedi alone is not powerful enough to wrestle Obi-Wan back—my hope is that with all of us, perhaps we can save him."

Yoda, seated beside Kyran who was on Qui-Gon's right, was nodding. "Work it might. Join together we must if save Obi-Wan we will."

Hope threatened to blossom in Qui-Gon again and he firmly kept it away from his perception. He could not allow himself to hope too much for Obi-Wan or if they failed he would be destroyed by grief.

"Let us begin," Han'yaie intoned.

Qui-Gon and the other four Jedi closed their eyes to aid in stronger concentration—and to block the sight of the barely visible Obi-Wan. They came together in the Force, recognizing each other and orienting themselves toward Obi-Wan. Yoda directed them to the cord that bound the planet to Obi-Wan's body. They knew that if they traced it back to its source they would find Obi-Wan.

As one, they began their search for Qui-Gon's padawan.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

He had been alone all his existence. He knew he had had another life that had involved other people, other beings and responsibilities, but that was fading with every moment he spent with Her.

How could he have been afraid of Her? She was everything. She fulfilled him, sustained him, gave him purpose. He was never alone now. He would never be disappointed, never be cold or hungry, never be sad or fearful. There was no longer any 'light' or 'dark', 'evil' or 'good'. All that filled him was peace and his purpose. He had a clarity that he had never felt in his previous life, a knowledge of what it was that he needed to do. He knew that he could do it, knew that he was the only one who could do it, and he was ready to do what was needed.

Though...there was another voice in the calmness of the Mother Planet. A faint voice that cried out to him, pleaded with him to remember who and what he had been, to resist Her still.

Resist Her? Why?

The voice called to him, the words echoing and coming from the distance of years. It warned him of Her, cautioned him that to embrace Her fully would to invite death without end. Reminded him of his vow to the Jedi, his life as a Padawan, and his successes and failures.

Obi-Wan was saddened. He did not truly want to leave the Temple, did not want to leave his Master or his friends.

The voice latched onto his memories, showing him what he was forgetting from his past. Flashes came to him of what he knew and what he had learned growing up. Showed him his humanity. Showed him his friends.

_Fight Her._

It was the first time that Obi-Wan had actually heard clear words from the voice. It was a young man, though older than Obi-Wan himself. Where he was, in a place with no light and no dark, a corporeal plain, he saw a Jedi Knight walking toward him on air.

_Resist Her._

_Who are you?_ Obi-Wan wondered.

_I was Jedi Knight Yant Justain. I am no longer. I am the older Father that could no longer keep the balance. I tried to warn the Jedi when She began questing for another, but it is exhausting to fight Her,_ the Jedi told him, drawing near to him. _You have those who know where you are. Hold on, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Your future should not be fixed as mine was._

Obi-Wan felt like there were two of him in one place. One part of him longed to stay with Her, but the other part recognized the truth to the Jedi's words.

_I can't find my way back,_ he told Justain. _She has blocked me from returning. It is too late for me._

Justain shook his head and lay a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder. _There are those who are searching for you. Perhaps they can help you find your way back._

_Obi-Wan, stay with me..._

Obi-Wan twisted around at the words. It had sounded like someone he had used to know. _I know that voice,_ he told Justain in excitement.

_Think, Obi-Wan. Remember!_ Justain urged him.

It was so hard to think, especially through the blocks that She had placed on his mind. It felt as if he were struggling through quicksand that had a hold of him and did not want to let go. But finally he remembered the name to the voice. Finally he had a face to go with the sound of pleading and concern.

_Qui-Gon..._

She shrieked. Both Justain and Obi-Wan cried out and dropped to their knees in the place with no walls and no floor. The air sustained them and created their prison. _She_ created their prison.

_There is no other but me! _She told Obi-Wan, enraged. _Thou hast no one but me! 'Tis your destiny to balance! Embrace it!_

Justain faded, leaving Obi-Wan alone—but not alone. His strength renewed, he smiled at Her. _I am a Jedi. I will meet my destiny on my own terms._

_Thou hast no choice! None! Thy body hast almost been destroyed. Without it, thou canst not return._

Obi-Wan felt despair at Her words. Inside of this prison of Her own making he could feel the truth of what She said to him. She was not lying. In fact, She was gleeful. Things were almost complete for the equilibrium to be reached, whether he wanted to be the one to do it or not.

Losing all hope, Obi-Wan wailed.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

They followed the cord that linked Obi-Wan to the Mother Planet. Qui-Gon heard a wail full of utter despair that vibrated throughout his mind.

It was Obi-Wan, his Obi-Wan! After two weeks, it was the first sound he had heard from his padawan and he did not care if Obi-Wan sounded like giving up, all he cared about was that he could now hear his padawan.

_Obi-Wan, hold on..._

He did not know if Obi-Wan could hear him in return, but he hoped that the boy could.

They were closing in on the Mother Planet, feeling her as a pressure building in magnitude the nearer they became to Obi-Wan. Finally, the Jedi entered a kind of...wall-less room. Light was muted so dimly that it was hard to see, but Qui-Gon spotted a huddle figure a short distance from him.

_Obi-Wan..._

Obi-Wan did not turn nor seem to sense that the Jedi were close to him in this place of air. His hands were over his head and his eyes were squeezed shut. Qui-Gon could read defiance in every line of his padawan's face.

So Obi-Wan was still resisting. Qui-Gon was more relieved than he wanted to admit.

_I have allowed thou to see him. Now leave._

Qui-Gon and the other Jedi, ghost-like in appearance in this place, turned around. There was a woman standing behind them. She glowed brightly, hurting their eyes, but none of the Jedi looked away.

_I want my padawan returned to me! _Qui-Gon told her, knowing that this was the manifestation of the Mother Planet.

Her head tilted to the side; her hair was flame around her head. _He is mine. He must restore the balance that greed has wrought._

Yoda stepped up to her. _Not his fate this is. Something more in store for him I have seen._

The Mother Planet did not waver_. He is mine. Leave now before thou strainst my generosity._

_This boy does not belong to you,_ Han'yaie said firmly.

Kyran stepped up beside Qui-Gon, his eyes fierce. _We'll fight to keep him._

_Thou wilt lose,_ the Mother Planet told them with a self-assured smile.

_What is it about him that you want so badly?_ Anya asked her.

The Mother Planet gazed at the youngest member of their group for a moment, then replied, _His power. Evil has run too long on my shores. Only a great power canst restore the balance to keep my creatures safe._

A thought tried to surface in Qui-Gon's mind at her words, but it was elusive and so he let it be. In time it would come to him. For now, he had to concentrate on winning Obi-Wan back.

_Is there nothing we can say or do to get him back? _Qui-Gon wondered.

She fixed eyes a deeper blue than the ocean on him and her face was resolute. _Nothing._

_Join together. Try to overpower her_, came Han'yaie's thought through the Force.

Qui-Gon kept his eyes steadily on the Mother Planet as he focused deeply into the Force. He felt the others doing the same. They tapped into the ever-flowing, bottomless well of the Force. Their powers surged together, becoming a whirlwind that blew a tangible wind across their faces. As one, the Jedi _pushed_ the great maelstrom of the Force toward Obi-Wan, hoping that it would break the Mother Planet's hold over him.

Obi-Wan staggered, pressing a hand to the side to keep his balance, but he remained there. Along with the Mother Planet.

They had failed.

_Thy Force runs through me,_ the Mother Planet told them haughtily. _It canst not harm me, nor canst it free the boy._

Obi-Wan glanced up. He stared straight at his master, for once seeing the Jedi there with him. _Master?_ He asked, confused. _What are you doing here?_ He stood and took a step toward Qui-Gon.

Suddenly the Mother Planet was between the Master and Padawan. _He is leaving, Father. Concentrate on thy duty._

Obi-Wan shook his head, though he seemed weary. _I do not want this. Let me leave. Let me go free._

_Take me instead._

Six pairs of eyes stared at Qui-Gon at his declaration. Faces all around showed shock, though two did not seem surprised at all.

Qui-Gon took a step closer to the Mother Planet. _Take me in his place,_ he repeated. _I will stay and do what you wish._

_Thou...wilt come in his stead?_ She asked, raising a fiery brow.

Qui-Gon nodded. _Yes._

The Mother Planet looked at the stricken Obi-Wan and the denial that was hanging on his lips, then back to the determined master. She smiled.

_Thou hast raised my estimation of humans, Master Jinn. _Her smile died_. But my answer is no. Thou dost not have the power that I need to set the equilibrium._

_Now leave._

Qui-Gon's eyes flew open to reveal the round room that they were physically seated in, feeling as if a bucket of cold water had just been thrown on him. His eyes immediately traveled to Obi-Wan's body.

"No!" He cried, jumping up. Obi-Wan's body was nearly gone. Only an extremely faint outline could be seen on the table. He tried to grab his padawan, but his hands went straight through Obi-Wan's body. "No! Obi-Wan!"

"It failed," Han'yaie whispered in a dejected tone. His padawan crossed over to him and placed her hands on his shoulders in a silent gesture of support.

"Qui-Gon..." Kyran tried to console Qui-Gon, but he would not let his friend touch him.

"Obi-Wan! Come back to me, Padawan! Stay with me!" He cried, tears rolling down his cheeks and not caring. All he knew was that he had failed Obi-Wan and now his padawan was to pay a price that was unfair.

Yoda touched Qui-Gon lightly on the leg. Grief-stricken, Qui-Gon gazed down at the same Jedi, unseeing. "Know the answer you do, Qui-Gon," Yoda said softly. "Clarity to find it you need. Meditate you should."

"Meditate? But Obi-Wan..."

"Gone he is not," Yoda reminded Qui-Gon firmly. "Fighting he is. More so that know you are here he does. Clear your mind you should." Yoda's eyes bore into his.

Clear his mind...

With an effort, Qui-Gon pushed his grief out of his mind. He had thought about something when the Mother Planet had been speaking. What had it been? Was that the answer that Yoda was so sure that he knew?

Qui-Gon slit his eyes, replaying everything in his head. What was it that she had said?

_Evil has run too long on my shores. Only a great power canst restore the balance to keep my creatures safe._

Only a great power...which she claimed only Obi-Wan could fill. But what if someone else could?

No, that would not work. He had tried to trade places and she had said that he did not have the needed power.

_Only a great power canst restore the balance to keep my creatures safe._

A great power...

Suddenly, Qui-Gon had it.

"Sit back down in the circle," Qui-Gon told the other Jedi as he fairly flew back to his seat. "I know how we can save Obi-Wan _and_ let the Mother Planet have what she wants."


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

The Jedi left, and once again Obi-Wan was left to face the Mother Planet alone. Though this time there was one difference: he knew now that someone was there and fighting along side him. He was not alone. He remembered everything about his former life now.

_Forget them, Father. _The Mother Planet crooned to him. _Thou and I wilt soon be together for eternity, balancing the evil on my shores and below them. Thou shouldst be preparing thyself._

Obi-Wan smiled serenely at her. _I know who I am now, and it is not who you want me to be. I might not have a choice about you killing my body, but I do not have to obey what you want. The Force is here—I can feel it clearly. Once my body is gone, so am I._

The Mother Planet regarded him for a moment, testing his honesty. The She spun around and gestured. Suddenly, Knight Justain was there again. _Thou hast poisoned him against me!_ She accused him.

The Knight placed his hands in the opposite sleeves of his robes and raised an eyebrow. _Why should I do that?_

_Thou hast been trying to warn him since his arrival! _The Mother Planet raged. _Thou knowst why I need to balance and thou hast been trying to undermine me!_

Justain smiled calmly at her. _Why should I let you kill another Jedi without their knowledge of what you are getting them into? Perhaps if you'd just ask, one of us would be foolhardy enough to volunteer, though I doubt it._

The Mother Planet glared at him, her eyes turning into echoes of her air of flame. _Thou art jealous of him since he is stronger than thou art._

Justain shook his head. _That is what you don't understand and never have, Mother. Jedi are not like regular humans. Yes, we have access to the Force, but we do not go jealously after each other, nor do we use monetary means to get what we want. We are guardians of the Republic and champions of peace. We are always ready to accept death._

_Thou weret not, _She pointed out.

Justain looked saddened. _Some of us are fools and would do anything to rectify a past mistake._

Obi-Wan watched their conversation carefully, seeking for some sort of guidance from Justain's wistful and regretful words. Here was someone who had already done what the Mother Planet wanted and, as far as he knew, was still balancing, though just wasn't strong enough to continue much longer. Which was why She needed him. He wondered if he was a strong enough Jedi to help Justain reach the Force when he left.

_Mother Planet._

Surprised, Obi-Wan turned at his master's voice. He had thought that the Mother Planet had barred them from returning to his aide, yet here the same small group of Jedi were again, this time behind him. Qui-Gon smiled at him reassuringly, though Obi-Wan felt a lingering fear coursing through his Master that he felt had something to do with him. _What are thy and thy friends doing back again so soon? _The Mother Planet asked, clearly caught off-guard.

Qui-Gon turned his blue eyed gaze to the manifestation. _I have a compromise for you so that we both will gain what we seek._

Her face was guarded. _Thou canst have nothing that I wish._

_Listen to him, you should,_ Obi-Wan saw Master Yoda say in his usual calm way. _Gain much you can._

_Fine,_ the Mother Planet snapped. _What is it that thou hast to say?_ She reached out and Obi-Wan felt himself being drawn to her side, away from the Jedi. He tried to resist, but it was if he were caught in a whirlwind. He glared at her from his new position beside her.

Qui-Gon pretended not to notice as his padawan was taken away from him. His eyes were resolute, though, when he said, _You say you need power to restore the balance of your planet, correct?_

The Mother Planet nodded, still wary.

_But you think that only by using one Jedi, in this case my padawan, Obi-Wan, can you achieve what you wish, correct? _

As the Mother Planet nodded again, Obi-Wan found himself wondering what his master had thought of.

Qui-Gon's smile broadened. _Why just one? What if all of us Jedi standing here offer to help restore the balance? Would that not achieve what you wish?_

There was a pause as the Mother Planet took stock of how much power each had in the Force, and then how much evil and greed was running rampant below and above her ocean.

Finally, she cautiously asked, _And what do thou gest out of this, Jedi Master?_

Qui-Gon looked at Obi-Wan, his expression stating that the answer should be obvious. Quietly, he replied, _My padawan's life._

The Mother Planet gazed at each Jedi in turn, though She skipped over Justain's waiting figure. She inquired softly, _Wilt thou each do this? Thy wilt need to surrender enough power to continue the balance for years to come._

_Send more Jedi we can if more you need,_ Yoda promised her. _Volunteers there will be. Come to agreements we will._

_Thou wilt do this to save my creatures?_

All the Jedi, including Obi-Wan, nodded solemnly. She looked surprised at Obi-Wan's agreement.

_I am a Jedi,_ he reminded Her softly. _I just don't like being forced to my death. I have a duty to others. I will help._

She smiled at them all. _Then let us begin._

* * *

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I'm starting to wonder if anyone likes this or if I even still have readers. No one's said anything in a very long time. So tell you what, send me a review and I'll continue. I will not continue unless I get one so I know if I should just stop this fic right here. ::is feeling very sad::


	17. Chapter Seventeen

NOTE FROM AUTHOR: Wow, I didn't mean to freak you all out. I was going through a rough spot (had to take the LSAT so if you know what that is, perhaps you will forgive me). Here it is, ladies and gentleman, the last chapter...or is it?

Chapter Seventeen

Obi-Wan opened his eyes, feeling more exhausted than he ever had in all of his seventeen years. He was in a round room softly lit a yellow color. Masters Yoda, Qui-Gon, Kyran, Han'yaie and padawan Anya were sitting in a circle around him, slowly opening their own eyes.

Qui-Gon's gaze immediately came to rest on Obi-Wan. "You're looking...more solid," he said in way of greeting. "How are you feeling, Padawan?"

Obi-Wan lifted a hand to brush back a sweaty strand of hair from his forehead and was surprised to see it was a clear color. His eyes widened and he watched his hand slowly become the solid flesh that he knew it to be. "Tired," he croaked out of a dry and raspy throat.

After being out of his body for so long, it felt strange to suddenly have weight to his movements again. He tried to lift his head, but found he had no strength to do so. He sighed and closed his eyes again. A warm hand pressed on his forehead and he felt love and pride flow into him. He smiled, knowing it was Qui-Gon standing there.

"Glad to have you back we are," Yoda's voice came to him. "Make us old you should not."

Obi-Wan's eyes flew open and he stared at the small green master in shock. "Was that...a joke?" he wondered.

Qui-Gon chuckled. "Yes, Obi-Wan. Just because one is a Jedi Master does not mean that they lose their sense of humor."

Obi-Wan blushed, embarrassed. That wasn't what he had meant, but he left it alone as Master Han'yaie walked up to him.

"Tell me how you feel. And be more descriptive than when you told your master," the Healer instructed, placing his hands above Obi-Wan's chest to feel his physical well-being.

Obi-Wan took stock of his body. "I feel...exhausted. All my muscles ache, my throat hurts, and everything feels too heavy for me to lift," he said truthfully.

Han'yaie directed Anya to his side. "Feel that, Padawan?"

She nodded.

"That is what it feels like when someone has returned to their body. They have internal scarring that will take time to heal. You, Obi-Wan," Han'yaie said, redirecting his conversation to the young man on the table. "You will need plenty of rest. Nothing strenuous and plenty of exercises to get your muscles back up to their regular strength. No overdoing it. On our way back to Coruscant, I'll show you what I mean and write it down for you. Understand?"

Obi-Wan nodded once, then lay his head back on the padded table. He glanced at his master...and noticed something odd. "Master, what in the Force are you wearing?"

Qui-Gon glanced down at his mostly naked body and flushed. "Hm, forgot what I was wearing in all the excitement to get you back, Obi-Wan." He grinned at his padawan. "And I'd be more concerned about what _you _were wearing, if I were you."

Confused, Obi-Wan forced his head up again to take a look at his body. Gone were his tunic and pants—and lightsaber. In its place was a lot of shell and some sort of gem necklaces...and a mesh that did nothing to protect modesty. Suddenly, he was very aware of the fact that Anya, close to his own age, was in the room.

"Um, it's chilly in here. Can I have a tunic or cloak or hole to hide in?" he said, his face heating.

"Oh, Obi-Wan, really! I'm a healer!" Anya told him in exasperation.

"But you are also a girl," Qui-Gon pointed out mildly as he took Han'yaie's cloak to cover his padawan up.

"Master!" Obi-Wan hissed, feeling his face heat more. He was sure it was a brilliant red by now.

Yoda gave his version of a laugh—a dry, barking sound. "Young I was once. Know it well I do. Perhaps now leave Anya should until proper clothing Obi-Wan has."

Han'yaie nodded, hiding a grin. "Anya, you're tired; I can feel it. Why don't you go rest for a few hours? I'll wake you when we are ready to return to Coruscant."

Anya shot Obi-Wan a glare, as if blaming him for not allowing her to do her duty as a healer's padawan, but she obeyed her master without a word of protest. Once she left, Han'yaie let out a deep throated chuckle before he turned to Obi-Wan. "You should rest, Obi-Wan. You've had a hard two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Was that all it was? Time had been distorted with the Mother Planet, but Obi-Wan felt as if he had been gone years, not a mere two weeks.

Obi-Wan didn't think he'd be able to sleep. Not with memories of what had happened to him swirling through his mind. He was still amazed that with the combined efforts of the five Jedi that the Mother Planet had been satisfied enough with her balance to allow him to leave. Before he had been released back into his body, he had sent the last spurt of strength he had to help Justain find his way to the Force.

Qui-Gon gazed at Obi-Wan a moment, then politely turned to the two older Jedi. "My Padawan and I need a few moments alone. Then I promise he will get all the rest that you require, Han'yaie."

Han'yaie hesitated, then nodded. He and Master Yoda left the room, leaving the master and padawan alone for the first time since the entire disastrous mission had started.

"I thought I lost you, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said without preamble as he sat down next to Obi-Wan's head for easier viewing. His blue eyes were pools of relief.

Obi-Wan reached weakly for his master's hand, found it, and gave it a small squeeze. "Well, I was sure I was lost," he replied, a note of humor in his tone though his tone was one mostly of thought. "I forgot everything: who I was, what I was, who other people were in my life. It took Knight Justain to remind me..."

Qui-Gon gave him a sharp look. "You saw Knight Justain?"

Obi-Wan was confused. "Yes. He was in there, wherever it was, with me. Didn't you see him?"

"No," Qui-Gon said slowly. He regarded his padawan again for a moment. "But that doesn't mean that he wasn't there. So, he helped you remember?"

Obi-Wan laughed once or twice—all he had the strength for. "You could call it a swift kick in the butt, really."

Qui-Gon chuckled as well. "Glad that someone was there to do it for me." He sobered again. "I am glad to have you back, Padawan."

"I'm glad to be back, Master," as Obi-Wan said it, he had never meant something more in his life.

"Now you need to rest, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon told him softly, drawing the Han'yaie's cloak up closer to Obi-Wan's chin for warmth.

Obi-Wan closed his eyes obediently and listened to the sound of his master's breathing for a moment as sleep pulled lazily at him. Qui-Gon had finally started walking toward the door when Obi-Wan called out, "Master?"

"Yes, Padawan?" Qui-Gon asked, his tone plainly wondering if Obi-Wan needed something else and ready to fetch it for him.

Obi-Wan smiled. "Nice thighs."

THE END

Author's Note: I know that I did not answer the question of who messed with Obi-Wan's record in the Temple. I'm thinking of a sequel to this ending. I also have an alternate ending, which will be posted soon.


	18. Alternate Ending

ALTERNATE ENDING: -begins at Chapter Fifteen-

Qui-Gon's eyes flew open to reveal the round room that they were physically seated in, feeling as if a bucket of cold water had just been thrown on him. His eyes immediately traveled to Obi-Wan's body.

"No!" He cried, jumping up.

Obi-Wan's body was nearly gone. Only an extremely faint outline could be seen on the table. He tried to grab his padawan, but his hands went straight through Obi-Wan's body. "No! Obi-Wan!"

"It failed," Han'yaie whispered in a dejected tone. His padawan crossed over to him and placed her hands on his shoulders in a silent gesture of support.

"Qui-Gon..." Kyran tried to console Qui-Gon, but he would not let his friend touch him.

"Obi-Wan! Come back to me, Padawan! Stay with me!" he cried as tears rolled down his cheeks. He did not wipe them away--he did not care to. All he knew was that he had failed Obi-Wan and now his padawan was to pay a price that was unfair.

"Qui-Gon, sorry I am," Yoda's voice came to him as if from a great distance. "Mourn him we will."

"Go away," Qui-Gon whispered, numb. "Just go away." He didn't hear their footsteps, but he did hear the closing of the door.

Obi-Wan faded a bit more in the gloom of the room.

"Oh, padawan," Qui-Gon whispered to Obi-Wan, longing to hold him close to him to keep him beside him. "What can I do to help you? I have no ideas left...nothing left to offer...no brilliant scheme.

"You were a good padawan. Did I ever tell you that? If I did, then never enough. You fought to prove to me that you were worthy to be my padawan, but I never had a doubt. Why could I not tell you that, especially after Melida/Daan?"

He didn't know if Obi-Wan could hear him, but he was determined to tell his padawan everything he could before Obi-Wan was lost to him. Already, Obi-Wan was mostly gone, passed from the physical to the spiritual world, and not even into the Force for Qui-Gon couldn't feel him there.

Swiftly he continued, ignoring the tears running down his cheeks. "I admire your ability to stand up to me, Obi-Wan. At first, I have to admit that it alarmed and shocked me. The only one to stand up to me like that was Han'yaie and he's known me since I was in the crèche. But I grew used to you—or rather, you grew in my heart. After Xanatos I never wanted to grow close to another padawan again. I even drew away from Kyran, though he forced me to face him.

"Then you came along. The Force plainly wanted me to save you from the farmer's path, but I resisted. I'm so glad that Yoda hit me with his gimmerstick and made me see reason before it was too late. You..." Now he choked up. He cleared his throat and rasped, "You would have made a fine Knight. I would have been proud to know you as my former padawan--as my son."

The only response to his words was a glimmer as Obi-Wan's body completely disappeared as if it had never been. Qui-Gon did not yell or scream like he so badly felt like doing. Instead, he laid his head down on his arms and wept.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Make sure you let me know how you like the alternate ending!


End file.
